An Operational Evaluation of the Final Approach Runway Occupancy Signal at Long Beach Airport

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has long recognized the safety hazard of aircraft landing on an occupied runway. Several instances resulted in accidents, including the fatal incident at Los Angeles International Airport in February of 1991. As part of their efforts to explore new technologies to reduce these types of runway incursions, the FAA´s joint safety implementation team proposed that a warning device be developed to notify pilots on approach to land that their intended runway is occupied. This concept has been called the final approach runway occupancy signal (FAROS), and recent efforts by the FAA resulted in evaluation of this technology. Long Beach Airport has been participating in an ongoing Operational Evaluation of a FAROS system since August 2006. This system utilizes surface surveillance, tracking logic and a modified precision approach path indicator (PAPI) to provide direct notification to pilots on approach that one of three activation zones on the runway is occupied. The inductive loop surveillance system monitors entry and exit points to the activation zones. When the tracking logic determines that an activation zone is occupied by a stationary or slow-moving vehicle or aircraft, the PAPI lights are flashed, providing immediate and direct notification to any pilots in the approach corridor. When the activation zone is vacated, the PAPI lights are returned to their steady state. As part of the operational evaluation (OpEval), the FAA is collecting system performance data as well as feedback from pilot observers. Together this objective and subjective data will be used to determine the effectiveness of the FAROS system to provide pilots with additional runway safety information and improving their overall situational awareness. This paper will present an overview of the FAROS system at Long Beach and discuss the data collected as part of the OpEval.