Airport Surface Movement Event Transgressions (ASMET)

NASA ASRS conducted a study for the FAA Office of Runway Safety in 2003 to analyze Airport Surface Movement Event Transgressions (ASMET).

“The identification of an ASMET event was based on the NASA ASRS definition: “The ASRS defines an ASMET as an incident that involved the erroneous occupation of a runway or its immediate environs by an aircraft, pedestrian or vehicle so as to pose a potential collision hazard to other aircraft that could be using the runway, even if no such other aircraft were actually present. ASMET events also include erroneous takeoffs or landings on the airport surface.””

2772 events were entered into the NASA database over a 4 year period. The FAA categorized approx 1000 events during the same period. These ASRS reports represent the part of the iceberg that is underwater, an equally dangerous part that we don’t see.

Take a few minutes to read through the material, the analysts did a great job of breaking out the most common errors at 75 high threat airports. All of these airports had Air Traffic Control towers. What types of events do you think happened at non-towered fields, and were they reported?

My thanks to the reporters and NASA ASRS analysts.

Fly (and Taxi) Smart

Clark