Twenty facilities will get new technology to reduce accident risk

The Federal Aviation Administration has unveiled plans for a broad deployment of “runway status lights” to reduce the risk on collisions between aircraft on the ground. The lights, which are embedded in the surface of taxiways, alert the pilot when it is unsafe to proceed onto or across an active runway due to the presence or approach of another aircraft. The lights are currently being tested at Dallas/Ft. Worth and San Diego airports. But now the FAA says it will proceed with installation of the lights at 20 additional airports over the next three years. The airports that will receive the new technology include Atlanta, Baltimore-Washington, Boston, Charlotte, DFW, Denver, Detroit, Washington Dulles, Ft. Lauderdale, Houston Intercontinental, JFK, LaGuardia, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Newark, Chicago O’Hare, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego and Seattle.