Finding yourself where you shouldn't be can be one of the scariest moments for pilots and ramp staff alike. Some incidents lead to fatalities. Others end up causing massive damage to people and equipment. Clearly the international focus on reducing incursions is worth the time and investment.

Let's start with the big scary one, the runway incursions. Who's most often involved? Pilots, as you may have guessed, followed by vehicle operators. And what causes pilots to make these errors? Phraseology between ATC and pilots is a common culprit. Non standard language has often been a cause of confusion. Speech rate can also cause problems. When the words go speeding by, pilots and controllers sometimes hear what they expected to hear rather than what was actually said, particularly if they're very familiar with each other or with the same old procedures at the same old airport. New procedures also sometimes get missed. Be sure to check the charts for changes even if you're very familiar with the airport. Things do change! Hold short lines move and procedures for the correct time to change frequency at a given airport can change, as well as the frequencies themselves. And don't forget that frequency changes at a time of high cockpit workload can also lead to errors in timing of the change or of the frequency itself.  Be alert that todays procedures may not be the same as what they were last week and the week before. And just because they do it that way at your home airport doesn't mean they do it that way at your destination airport.

Just as dangerous as forgetting to look down is forgetting to look up. Too much head down time in the cockpit leads to trouble. I've seen two instances where an airliner crossed a lit stop bar, entering an active runway and taxiing out IN FRONT OF A LANDING AIRCRAFT because both pilots were focused on updating the FMS. Either one of those occasions had the potential to have very serious consequences. Pilots, don't let your equipment distract you. It sounds obvious, but someone needs to be looking outside whenever an airplane is moving! Try to have briefed on airport protocol before the last possible moment.

Pilots, it isn't always all your fault. Let's take a look at the airport side. Complex layout of taxiway and runways, crossing runways, use of non active runways as taxiways, naming or renaming of taxiways and intersections, and unclear markings or signs are just some of the things the airport management has to think about and try to avoid. ICAO Annex 14 contains the standards for airport design and operations, but we can't forget to keep ATC and the pilots involved in our planning. Spending tremendous quantities of time and money only to find those who use the facilities unable or unwilling to comply with our best laid plans is such a shame!

Another place where airports are responsible for runway incursion avoidance is in the design of airport roads. Vehicle traffic from roads crossing taxiways are the main contributor to taxiway incursions. The amount of non flying airport traffic must be limited and if possible re-directed to roads that lead outside the aircraft traffic pattern. It's a priority even if this will make the distance from A to B much longer. All it takes is one experience where the passengers are thrown against the seatbelts because the pilot had to jump on the brakes to avoid a bus, a taxi or a fuel truck. Not only will they reconsider flying in and out of your airport again, this is the kind of story that gets told and told again. “It takes a second to get a bad reputation. It can take years to get rid of it again,” is just too true in cases where airport safety is involved.

And now for the stand, or the ramp area where vehicular collisions may be even a bigger threat than incursions. I've sometimes had the feeling it's an amusement park full of bumper cars. Too many vehicles move far too fast, with tugs and stairs moving into the safety zone before the aircraft has come to a complete stop or sometimes even crossing in front of moving aircraft! How did things get so wild on the ground? In my opinion, there are three primary reasons. Firstly, the tight turn around time and an admirable effort to be efficient. The loaders are eager to put chocks at the wheels and start emptying the compartment almost before engines are shut off. Driving with the tugs so close to wings and fuselages may get the job done faster but isn't adding any to the safety of situation. The second factor adds to the first, namely that the amount of staff on the ramp during the ground stop has been reduced. The airlines have cut back so much that those doing the physical jobs sometimes have to cut corners to be able to finish on time.And lastly, lack of oversight by management to be certain that safety procedures are being adhered to.

Clearly, there is much that we can all do to cut down on the potential for ground collisions and incursions. We all share responsibility here, and I want to come back to the importance of a no blame policy. It is so important that all occurrences are reported. That everybody knows how and where to report.That you know that you won't lose your head for filing an incident report (AND that you know you can be in deep s..t if you don't!).That the reports are systematically collected so that the statistics can show us where to go from here to improve the system. Communication is crucial if we want to see continued improvement across the board. We all need to be involved to successfully implement the kind of Safety Management System that keeps pilots, passengers, and ground crews safe.