Three of the eight close calls on runways at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in 1997-2000 were in the two most severe categories, according to a grading system released Wednesday by federal aviation officials.

        That includes two incidents in 1998 that received the worst grade, which means the participants had to take extraordinary actions to narrowly avoid collisions.

        The airport put in new procedures last year that already appear to be working, with one “incursion” reported so far this year.

        “Still, the only acceptable number is zero,” said Dale Huber, deputy director of aviation at the airport. “I'm all for grading the severity, but only if it can help us reduce our number.”

        An incursion is when a plane that is landing or taking off comes too close to another plane, object, person or vehicle on the runway. It can result in a collision or near-collision.

        Seven aviation experts graded 1,359 events during the study period — including three that resulted in collisions. Since 1990, incursions have caused 63 deaths nationwide, none of them here.

        Overall, the number of incursions nationally and at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky airport has risen in the past three years, with the airport seeing four incidents in 2000 alone — the same total as the previous three years combined.

CLOSE CALLS

Details of “incursions,” or close calls in 2000 and this year between a plane either landing or taking off and another object, person or plane, on the runways at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport: 2001     • 7:24 a.m. March 18: Northwest Airlink Flight 5717 (the FAA could not provide its destination) was cleared to taxi and hold to the end of Runway 27. But the pilot began takeoff without clearance. At the same time, Comair Flight 5504 was in its landing roll after arriving from Charlottesville, Va. That pilot turned onto Taxiway K, although it is not clear whether he was planning to make that turn or was forced to by the other departing plane on the crossing runway. The incident brought the planes within 500 to 1,000 feet of each other. Classification: Pilot error. (This was not graded in the study.) 2000     • 5:40 p.m. May 1: Comair Flight 5987 from Cincinnati to Grand Rapids, Mich., was instructed to taxi and hold for takeoff on Runway 27. Instead, it began its takeoff roll without clearance as incoming Comair Flight 5774 from Kalamazoo, Mich., was landing on crossing Runway 18 Right. Air Traffic Control instructed Flight 5987 to abort its takeoff, and Flight 5774 landed without incident. Classification: Pilot error.     • 1:52 p.m. May 17: A privately owned Astrojet trying to depart on Runway 18 Right took the takeoff clearance meant for another privately owned plane trying to depart on Runway 27. A third plane, a privately held Gulfstream, was making its final approach on 18 Right but had to abort its landing and restart the sequence. Classification: Pilot error.     • 4:38 p.m. June 22: A Comair crew asked for and was granted clearance to cross Runway 27 at Taxiway Echo to taxi a Comair plane back to the maintenance hangar. The plane instead started toward Runway 18 Right, where Flight 5332 from Evansville, Ind., was landing. The maintenance crew, in the cockpit of the jet, was instructed to stop in time for Flight 5332 to land without incident. Classification: Vehicle driver error.     • 12:33 p.m. July 15: Air Traffic Control cleared Comair Flight 5881 to Raleigh-Durham, N.C., to take off on Runway 27. Air Traffic Control also cleared Comair Flight 9491 — a private charter — to land on intersecting Runway 36 Left. Both planes completed their operations safely, but came too close to each other, according to FAA regulations. Classification: Air Traffic Control deviation from operating procedure, or error. Source: Federal Aviation Administration

        That placed the airport on the list of U.S. airports with the highest incursion rates, although Cincinnati had the lowest incident rate per 10,000 takeoffs and landings. An incursion in March has been the only incident this year.

        The new study and system is part of a Federal Aviation Administration effort that began last year to lower incursion rates.

        “We want to have a better handle on what happened in each case so we can start pinpointing why,” FAA director of runway safety Bill Davis said. “And our approach to this is not to assign blame. People make mistakes, and we understand that. What we want to do is to see whether there's a breakdown that is causing people to make those mistakes, and to correct any systematic problems that we can.”

        The FAA's new system gives grades from A to D to individual incidents, with A being the most severe and a D incident having little to no chance of causing a collision. The experts looked at the specifics of each of 1,359 incursions in 1997-2000 and graded each on such criteria as available reaction time, need for evasive action, environmental conditions and aircraft or vehicle speed.

        Before now, incursions had three categories based upon who was at fault: the pilot, the air traffic controller or the person or driver of the ground vehicle.

        Of the eight local incursions during the study period, 1998's two incidents received an A grade, which means those involved had to take extreme measures to avoid colliding.

        One of 2000's four incidents got a B grade, which means there was a significant potential for collision.

        Mr. Huber said he was concerned about the number of what federal officials termed “serious” incursions locally. But he also said he had the same concern for the minor incursions.

        He said some initiatives made by a local task force composed of airport officials, air traffic controllers and representatives from airlines such as Comair and Delta Air Lines appears to be working, given this year's lower rate.

        Those moves include changing radio call sign procedures to minimize confusion and allowing mechanics to conduct engine tests at more locations throughout the airport to minimize the crossing of runways. The airport also is due to receive new radar technology next spring that will allow better tracking of ground vehicles.

        Mr. Huber also said he was concerned the new system would create an attitude that those incursions that received a C or D grade were irrelevant.

        “We don't want any less attention to be paid to any incident by virtue of its rating,” Mr. Huber said. “We can't say that two, or whatever, are acceptable because they were a minor rating.”

        Most of the national increases in incursions came in grades C and D, with the number of the more serious incidents staying relatively steady over the four-year study period. Mr. Davis said a possible explanation is that increased awareness has led to better reporting of even minor incidents.

        Still, “smaller events need to be looked at as possible precursors to opportunities for A- and B-type incursions,” Mr. Davis said. “We need to hold the line and make sure they don't get any worse.”

        Nationally, Mr. Davis said, there was an indirect correlation between high volume and incursion rates, but that did not exist when it came to severity, although airport layout and weather did play a factor.

        Locally, the number of takeoffs and landings jumped almost 10 percent from 1998 to 2000, which Mr. Huber acknowledged could have been a factor in last year's high incursion rate.

        “It has the potential for creating that effect, but it also puts more eyes and ears out there to help people become more aware,” Mr. Huber said.

        Randy Brindley, vice president of the local branch of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, said he couldn't comment specifically on the new system, having not seen it.

        “But I will say that with any runway incursion, whether it be A or D, we need to find out what the problem is and fix it,” Mr. Brindley said. “Although I will say that sometimes they all have different reasons, and there are no threads connecting them.”

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