On this Page...
- AAAE Offers Airport Operations Certification
- Airport Safety Self-Inspection: Advisory Circular 150/5200-18B
- Airport Safety Self-Inspection - Back to Basics DVD
- Airport Management Responsibility
- FAA Inspections
- FAA Navaids
- FAR Part 139
- Non-Standard Marking /Lighting/Signage Installed During AIP Projects
- Powerpoint Presentation for Inspecting Airfield Marking, Signs and Lighting
- Problems with Inspection Techniques
- Training Program for Inspection Personnel
AAAE Offers Airport Operations Certification
The American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) is offering a professional certification program for airfield operations personnel called The Airport Certified Employee - Operations program, or A.C.E. It is a Part 139-based curriculum designed to educate and challenge airport personnel with airfield operations responsibilities or anyone interested in a related career.
The A.C.E. - Operations program is offered in three different formats: self-study, a five-day Review Course with other students from around the country, or a five-day, on-site course at an individual airport for that public use airport's personnel. It is an interactive course based on Part 139 requirements and is delivered through several methods: lectures, case studies, and videos. A.C.E. - Operations covers universally-applicable airfield information as well as operational regulations and procedures specific to your airfield. The course includes a written final exam that must be passed in order to receive certification.
Airport Safety Self-Inspection: Advisory Circular 150/5200-18B
Advisory Circular 150/5200-18C, Airport Safety Self-Inspection
provides much more information concerning your self-inspection program. Specific guidance and tips on what to look for during an inspection are included in this AC and airport personnel should become familiar with the inspection criteria discussed.
Airport Safety Self-Inspection - Back to Basics DVD
This 2006 DVD addresses self inspection issues such as
- pavement
- safety areas
- marking
- signage
- lighting
- navigationsl aids
- obstructions
- fueling operations
- snow and ice
- construction
This DVD was sent to the Part 139 certificated airports within the Central Region in December of 2006
Airport Management Responsibility
Continuous support and evaluation of the safety inspection program by airport management is critical to its success. Without it, inspection personnel will soon lapse into a state of “going through the motions”.
An effective practice airport management can implement is to conduct a thorough safety inspection periodically to evaluate the effectiveness of the safety inspection program. Inspection personnel must be held accountable for this very important responsibility and a periodic evaluation of the program is a convenient method to accomplish this. A periodic inspection by airport management also provides a “fresh set of eyes” which seems to be more effective in spotting those slow developing problem areas. An evaluation of the effectiveness of the inspection program will also alert airport management to the need for recurrent training for inspection personnel.
FAA Inspections
FAA Airport Certification Inspectors conduct annual inspections at airports certificated under Part 139. Sometimes we conduct additional surveillance inspections of the movement area when we happen to be in the area or when significant problems were noted during a previous inspection. The inspection of the movement area is actually an evaluation of the airport operator's self-inspection program.
Discrepancies to Part 139 noted during the inspections are normally addressed by Letter or Correction to document the problems and provide a follow-up for corrective actions. Airport operators can reduce the number of discrepancies noted during FAA inspections by conducting an evaluation of their self-inspection program and implementing improvements where needed.
FAA NAVAIDS
Part 139.309(b)(4) states the following:
“No object may be located in any safety area, except for objects that need to be located in a safety area because of their function. These objects shall be constructed, to the extent practical, on frangibly mounted structures of the lowest practical height with the frangible point no higher than 3 inches above grade.”
Light fixtures, signs, VASIs, and PAPIs are examples of objects which are located in safety areas because of their function and they are the lowest practical height and frangibly mounted. However, we have encountered a few situations in the last couple of years where glide slope and localizer shelters have been installed within the runway safety area. These equipment shelters are normally not required to be located in safety areas because of their function and they certainly could not be considered frangibly mounted and the lowest practical height. Therefore, they are not considered in compliance with Part 139 requirements. Unfortunately, once they are installed, it's difficult to have them relocated because of the shortage of funding. Whenever a new glide slope or localizer is being installed, airport personnel should check the location of the equipment shelters being installed and notify the FAA airport certification staff if it appears that they are being installed in the runway safety area.
Another issue concerning FAA NAVAIDs and self inspection personnel are exposed concrete bases or roadways in safety areas.
Sometimes self inspection personnel ignore these problems because they are FAA owned and maintained facilities.
However, problems such as the pictured threshold light foundation are still considered discrepancies to Part 139 requirements. Airport personnel are expected to identify problems associated with FAA facilities and notify the appropriate Airway Facilities office for corrective actions. If unsatisfactory conditions are not promptly corrected, airport operators should notify the airport certification staff.
FAR Part 139
The Code of Federal Regulations, Title 14, Chapter 1, Part 139 establishes safety standards in the movement area and requires that self-inspections be conducted to monitor compliance to those standards. The daily self inspections normally involve two inspections each day to cover both day and nighttime conditions. In order for a self inspection program to be successful, several factors must be present:
- Airport management must continuously emphasize the importance of the self-inspection program and monitor its effectiveness.
- Airport personnel must be familiar with the Part 139 requirements, the ACM/ACS procedures, ground vehicle procedures and communications, and marking/lighting/signage standards.
- Effective inspection techniques must be established along with a system for reporting and promptly correcting unsatisfactory conditions.
In other words, airport management must realize the importance of the self-inspection program, ensure that personnel are properly trained and adequate procedures are established. A successful self-inspection program contains the following elements:
- Airport management emphasis
- Knowledgeable inspection personnel
- Effective inspection techniques
- Good documentation of conditions found
- Practical system for corrective actions and follow-up
Non-Standard Marking/Lighting/Signage Installed During AIP Projects
Background
In recent years, the area with the most discrepancies to Part 139 has been Section 311, Marking and Lighting.
In January 1991, Part 139 required that airport operators provide marking, lighting, and signage systems in accordance with FAA standards. Prior to 1991, a lack of specific Part 139 requirements for marking and lighting and vague FAA standards resulted in pilots encountering a wide variety of marking and lighting systems at airports around the country. This situation caused confusion for pilots and created potentially unsafe conditions at complex intersections.
The FAA also began placing a high emphasis on identifying and correcting non-standards marking, lighting, and signage during airport certification inspections. This high emphasis was primarily the result of air carrier accidents where non-standard marking, lighting, and signage were identified as factors contributing to the accidents.
AIP Construction Projects
There is a lot that can go wrong in this area because of the complexity of marking, lighting, and signage standards and different interpretations of the Advisory Circular standards and Part 139 requirements. In addition, there is a never ending series of construction projects at airports where the potential is high for mistakes.
Unfortunately, Part 139 required marking and lighting elements can be omitted or non-standard marking, lighting, and signage can be installed during “FAA approved” construction projects.
New procedures were established in the Central Region Airports Division a few years ago to include Airport Certification Inspectors in the review process for plans and specifications. Certification inspectors provide another set of eyes to look at plans and specifications and are aware of many of the common mistakes made during projects as a result of conducting certification inspections. With both the engineers and inspectors involved in the review process, most of the non-standard mistakes and missing marking and lighting elements are now identified and corrected during the FAA review. However, we do miss some mistakes on plans and specifications and sometimes construction crews make mistakes during construction.
A special inspection by airport staff is highly recommended at the completion of the construction project to check for compliance to Part 139 requirements and FAA standards. Airport operators should not assume that everything will be done correctly because it is an AIP project reviewed and approved by the FAA.
The bottom line is that non-standard marking, lighting, and signage must be corrected, even if identified several years later. Naturally, the best time to find missing or non-standard marking, lighting, and signage is during or immediately after the construction project. Chances are that the airport operator will bear the cost of correcting missing or non-standard items if the construction project is closed out and contractors are paid and gone.
Designate an Airport Marking and Lighting Guru
We recommend that airport staff designate someone as the airport marking and lighting guru to monitor marking, lighting, and signage installed during construction and maintenance projects. This person should be someone who is interested in this responsibility and willing to take the time to become familiar with Part 139 and FAA standards for marking, lighting, signage, and construction. This person should also have a Marking and Lighting Guide or similar reference guide and know who to contact in the FAA Airports Division if there are any questions. Airports Division staff are more than happy to assist airport personnel with marking and lighting questions. If we don't know the answer, we will contact the appropriate person in Washington HQ if necessary.
Unique or Non-Standard Application of FAA Standards
Sometimes situations will require unique or non-standard application of FAA standards because of unusual configurations or problem intersections. In these situations, airport certification inspectors will work with airport operators to document FAA approved non-standard marking and lighting in the Airport Certification Manual.
PowerPoint Presentation for Inspecting Airfield Marking, Signs and Lighting
The PowerPoint we distributed in 2003 titled, “Airfield Signs and Markings: Common Problems Found During FAA Inspections”, has been updated, expanded and reorganized and is now titled, “Inspecting Airfield Marking, Signs and Lighting”.
This 220 slide presentation includes photos and discussions of Part 139 marking, sign and lighting requirements, common problems found during FAA inspections, FAA standards and specifications, new marking, sign and lighting standards, and inadequate maintenance of marking, signs and lighting. It can be used to supplement the airport specific training for self-inspection personnel. A CD with this PowerPoint presentation will be distributed to Central Region certificated airports in early December.
December 2005
Problems with Inspection Techniques
Going Through The Motions
Routine day and night safety inspections are normally conducted following a predetermined route which is usually the most efficient route around the airport. At towered airports this practice also allows the air traffic controller to anticipate the self-inspection vehicle movements and reduces the amount of time a vehicle is operating on the movement area. However, this situation may result in safety inspection personnel “going through the motions” when they do this day after day, year after year. The safety inspection may become more of a routine runway check than a thorough self-inspection. Changing inspection routes may help this problem. In addition, make sure that airport personnel inspect the stub taxiways between the runway and parallel taxiway as these are often overlooked.
Ineffective Inspections of Pavement Lips and Safety Areas
Another routine inspection practice is driving down the center of the runway during the safety inspection, sometimes at interstate highway speeds. Self inspection personnel love to hear controllers say, “expedite your runway check”. It's like a license to speed and there's no speed limit on a runway. Excessive vehicle speed makes it impossible to adequately inspect pavement lips and safety areas.
Driving down the runway centerline provides a good perspective for inspecting the pavement, marking, signs, lights, and noting obvious problems in the safety areas. However, a 500 foot wide runway safety area and pavement lips cannot be effectively inspected from the center of the runway, especially while also looking at everything else. As a result, discrepancies in safety areas and pavement lips are consistently near the top of problem areas noted during FAA inspections.
Making two trips down each side of the runway every day may not be practical at busy airports so Airport management should consider conducting periodic special inspections of pavement lips, light bases and safety areas. The special inspections should also include the 1000 foot safety areas off the runway ends.
The frequency of periodic inspections are at the discretion of airport management, depending on local conditions and past experience. Generally, they will vary from monthly to quarterly. These periodic inspections can be most effective if conducted when the grass is not too tall to obscure the ground. When conditions permit, inspection personnel can also drive in portions of the safety areas during these special inspections. However, during wet conditions the inspections will need to be limited to driving along both sides of the runways and down light lane roads.
Gradually Deteriorating Conditions
Slow changing conditions which gradually deteriorate over a period of time are easily overlooked by inspection personnel. Below are some examples of gradually deteriorating conditions noted during FAA inspections:
- Deteriorating pavement which results in a FOD problem.
- Buildup of rubber deposits which obscures runway markings and reduces the friction of wet pavement.
- Faded pavement markings which are not clearly visible.
- Faded wind socks which are difficult to see from the air.
- Potentially hazardous surface variations in safety areas due to erosion.
- Pavement lips developing as a result of settling of soil after projects.
- Potentially hazardous depressions developing at runway thresholds as a result of jet blast.
- Lights and signs becoming dim because of buildup of dirt inside lenses and on bulbs.
- Turf buildup along pavement edges causing ponding problems.
- Farming activity encroaching into the safety areas.
- Mounting stakes for lights exposed over 3 inches due to frost heave.
- Exposed concrete bases around signs and lights due to erosion or frost heave.
- Old wooden grates deteriorating to the point where they will not support aircraft.
Conducting periodic special inspections of these areas would be an effective method for identifying these gradually deteriorating conditions.
Training Program for Inspection Personnel
Part 139.327(b)(3) requires that each certificate holder provide procedures to ensure that qualified inspection personnel perform the inspections. Establishing a formal training program, consisting of classroom and OJT, is the most common method for meeting this requirement. Airports which have a formal training program for inspection personnel should be able to reduce the number of Part 139 discrepancies found during the annual certification inspection and enhance safety for aircraft operations. A formal training program should cover at least the following subjects:
- Airport Familiarization for new employees
- Applicable Sections of Part 139
- Applicable Sections of the ACM/ACS
- Marking, Lighting, and Sign Standards
- Ground Vehicle Procedures and Communications
- Inspection Techniques and Record Keeping
- Reporting Procedures
- Surface Movement Guidance & Control System (Where Applicable)
Some of these training topics can be conducted using the ARFF Training Curriculum and the ARFF training coordinator may also be able to conduct some of the training. The FAA has a number of training reference material which can be used during the classroom training for self-inspection personnel. This reference material should also be available to self-inspection personnel for review and reference, in case they need to look up an FAA standard.
The following list is some of the common reference material available from the FAA which should be used in training self-inspection personnel and provided in a reference library. Some of these documents are available on-line at our Airports Series 150 Advisory Circular Library.
Recommended FAA Advisory Circulars for Training Program
- 150/5200-18, Airport Self-Inspection
- 150/5200-28, NOTAMs for Airport Operations
- 150/5200-30, Airport Winter Safety & Operations
- 150/5230-4, Aircraft Fuel Storage, Handling on Airports
- 150/5340-1, Standards for Airport Markings
- 150/5340-18, Standards for Airport Sign Standards
- 150/5340-26, Maintenance of Airport Visual Aid Facilities
- 150/5370-2, Operational Safety on Airports During Construction
- 150/5380-5, Debris Hazards at Civil Airports
- 150/5200-33, Hazardous Wildlife Attractants on or Near Airports
- 120-57A, Surface Movement Guidance & Control System
- 150/5340-30, Design and Installation Details for Airport Visual Aids (Includes edge lights, low visibility lights and centerline lights)
