Proactive Airport Surface Safety Assurance by Monitoring ATC-Pilot Communications and Ground Traffic Patterns

Safety assurance on the airport surface requires careful coordination and compliance by controllers and pilots. In busy airports with limited movement areas, the increase in traffic complexity drives a higher risk of incursions and runway incidents. The safety monitoring tools available at airports are often reactive in nature with very short lead times. Human action in response to alerts ensures incidents do not devolve into catastrophes. Proactive safety assurance necessitates an increase in the lead times available for decision-making. By integrating the entire operational context and historical patterns, pilot and controller actions can be tracked for deviation and compliance. Two months of flight tracks and ATC-pilot communication audio at JFK is used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the safety assurance tool.