Vanquishing the V/PD
2nd Quarter 2008
A quarterly publication from the
Safety Section
Federal Aviation Administration Airports Division
Western-Pacific Region



This publication is primarily directed towards airport management to be disseminated to 
all levels of personnel working at your airfield. It does not matter how large or how small 
your airfield or how tight your budget may be, this information must be made available to 
your people by whatever means. Vanquishing the V/PD can be accomplished through a 
solid partnership between the FAA and airport management. The responsibility of 
making sure that the proper safeguards are in place; however, lies squarely on the 
shoulders of the airport management. Please use this information and all that follows as a 
guide by which to produce a safer environment at your airfield.
 
A cursory look at the 35 V/PDs that have occurred in the Western-Pacific Region from 
the beginning of the Fiscal Year of 2008 to date revealed some alarming statistics:

Type of V/PD		General Aviation	139 Certificated 	Total
			Airports		Airports

Surface Incident	5			8			13
Runway Incursion	9			13			22
Total V/PDs		14			21			35

 
* The majority of V/PDs (21 total) occurred at certificated 14 CFR Part 139 airports.
* The majority of V/PDs at both General Aviation (GA) and certificated airports (22) resulted in Runway Incursions (RIs). 

General		139			Cause
Aviation	Certificated

10		1			Improperly Escorted Vehicles/Pedestrians
0		11			Performance


* Improperly escorted individuals comprised the majority of V/PDs at GA airports.
* Performance issues (individuals not performing as they were trained) caused the majority of V/PDs at certificated airports.

All of these V/PDs were preventable.
So what can airport management do to help prevent V/PDs? 
Management at GA airports must impress upon their tenants that escorting an individual 
onto the airfield is a serious responsibility. Once a tenant assumes the responsibility of 
escorting individuals onto the airport, they become responsible for the actions of those 
escorted individuals for the entire time that those individuals remain on the airfield. So 
often a tenant will allow an individual onto the airfield and not provide an adequate level 
of supervision. This is not fair to the individual. That individual is not familiar with 
operations on the airfield. So often, improperly escorted individuals wander onto the 
runway, lost, unaware and in very serious danger.

Airports certificated under 14 CFR Part 139 must insure that employees and or tenants 
operating on the airfield have received adequate initial and recurrent training to properly 
conduct their business in the movement area. This training includes familiarization with 
signs, markings, construction plan review, communications and situational awareness. 
Currently, at certificated airports, initial and recurrent training in movement area 
procedures is required for airport employees only and only initial training is required for 
contractor or tenant employees. The best practice is to train, train and train at GA and 139 
airports alike.

Column written by:

Steven Oetzell

Airports Certification/Safety Inspector, AWP-620.6
Reproductions of this and subsequent issues of Vanquishing the VPD are available on FAA Website: http://www.faa.gov/airports_airtraffic/airports/regional_guidance/western_pacific/airports_resources/newsletter/