Runway incursions – vehicle, aircraft or person (RI-VAP)

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Runway incursions 2023

One of the cases last year was classified as a serious incident. The number was below the average of the previous years. The situation in question occurred between a helicopter and a glider at an uncontrolled aerodrome Runway incursions have not caused accidents in Finland. 

A runway incursion is defined as any situation where an aircraft, vehicle or person is present on the runway or its protected area, without clearance or otherwise incorrectly. An uncontrolled aerodrome has no air traffic control that would give aircraft clearance to enter the runway. Situations at uncontrolled aerodromes have also been classified as runway incursions when the conclusion is that another aircraft, vehicle or, as in this case, person has entered the runway in a significantly incorrect way.

Aircraft

There were 31 runway incursions by aircraft in Finland last year. The number was below the average for 2013-2022 (36.6). In fact, the overall number of runway in-cursions by aircraft has been decreasing slightly during the last decade.

Most of the incursions last year occurred in general or military aviation, but the numbers remained at the level of the average or slightly below it. In recreational aviation, the number of runway incursions clearly increased compared to the pre-vious year but remained at the level of the long-term average. Runway incursions are rare in commercial air transport, and last year there were two of them, which was at the same level as in the previous years and below the average.
Last year the situations occurred fairly evenly between airports and uncontrolled aerodromes, but most cases occurred in Jyväskylä, Rovaniemi and Kuopio. In most cases an aircraft took off or landed without appropriate clearance. 

The participants of the only serious incident of the year were a general aviation helicopter and a recreational aviation glider, and it took place at an uncontrolled aerodrome in Hyvinkää. In the case in question, a helicopter on a training flight was hovering at the start of the runway at the same time as a glider was landing on the same runway. The helicopter pilots did not notice the landing glider, and the glider pilot only noticed the helicopter during the very short final part. A collision was avoided when the glider pilot took evasive action off the runway and passed by the helicopter at a distance of a few metres.
 

Vehicles

Last year, vehicles caused a total of 21 runway incursions at airports. The number was a bit higher than last year and above the average for 2013-2022 (15.1). In re-lation to the number of operations, too, the number of situations at airports was clearly higher than average. 
Most of the cases occurred in January-February as well as November-December. The largest number of cases took place in Jyväskylä and Tampere-Pirkkala. 

During the winter, maintenance often needs to clean the runway. In many runway incursions, requesting permission needed for such an activity was forgotten for some reason or another. In some cases, one vehicle was already brushing the runway and another joined it without appropriate runway clearance. In some cases at regional airports, the cut ATC opening hours contributed to the drivers’ loss of related situational awareness, meaning that they forgot to request runway clear-ance.

The number of runway incursions by vehicles was still decreasing at a good rate in 2021, but the number started to rise again in 2022 and the increase continued last year, too. Airports have taken or intend to take various measures to improve the situation.

Persons

In 2023, individuals caused three runway incursions. The average for 2013-2022 was 15.1. The situation has indeed been improving in the past few years.

All of the cases occurred at uncontrolled aerodromes where the boundaries of the area are difficult to monitor. Last year, the locations were Nummela and Immola. In fact, in recent years most of these cases have occurred at the Nummela aero-drome. For example, in one of the cases in Nummela last year, there were three people walking their dogs in the runway while an aircraft was landing. However, the pilot noticed the walkers early enough and managed to perform a go-around in time.

In order to prevent such situations, the aerodrome operator’s tools include placing warning signs in critical locations in the aerodrome and providing information e.g. in local papers. Physical protection (e.g. gates or fences) may also be used as possible.

Air traffic control

In 2023, ATC contributed to five runway incursions. The number was more or less the same as the average for 2013-2022 (4.7) and it was also average in relation to the number of operations at airports. The events did not cause any significant risk. 
Most of them occurred at Tampere-Pirkkala. In 2013-2022, such situations have taken place most often at Helsinki Airport, Tampere-Pirkkala or Jyväskylä, but there is a large annual variation between the locations.
In recent years, runway incursions with ATC contribution have been fairly rare. 

Traficom's work to reduce runway incursions

Traficom has published a number of safety bulletins concerning runway incursions over the years. In 2013, an information letter (PDF) (in Finnish) (External link) was sent to all aviation licence holders, and in November 2018 a safety bulletin (in Finnish) (External link) was published, which reminded the operators about typical cases of runway incursions. A safety bulletin (in Finnish) (External link) published in October 2019 discussed the events of summer 2019, including runway incursions. A safety bulletin (in Finnish) (External link) that handled themes such as runway incursions was also published in June 2020. The bulletins still contain useful tips for avoiding runway incursions.

The European Plan for Prevention of Runway Incursions EAPPRI (External link) was updated by the European aviation organisations in late 2017. EAPPRI contains numerous recommendations, and all parties should thus go through this document and attempt to implement its recommendations as far as possible. Traficom conducted a survey on the status of implementing the recommendations in Finland in September 2018. According to the answers, about 80% of the EAPPRI recommendations had been implemented or are going to be implemented.