Technology will enhance safety

With plenty of bad press in recent years about the chances of runway collisions, travelers who use Los Angeles International Airport should be reassured to learn that the FAA has selected LAX as the next – and biggest – airport to install “runway status lights.” This warning system uses a series of red lights embedded in the runway surface to give pilots an instant alert when it is not safe to proceed across an active runway due to the presence of an inbound or outbound aircraft, detected by ground surveillance radar. Testing of the system at LAX will begin in early 2009. The system is already in place at Dallas/Ft. Worth and San Diego airports. For an update on other things the FAA is doing to improve runway safety, go to www.executivetravelmagazine.com/page/Technology+Enhances+Runway+Safety .