According to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, the rate of runway incursions has not decreased in the last five years, despite FAA efforts to the contrary. This report came just before serious incursions at Newark Liberty, Baltimore-Washington and New York Kennedy airports. In each case the aircraft came within a few hundred feet of each other. In at least one case, a crew had to land long to avoid the other aircraft. The FAA says safety was not compromised in any of these instances; the air traffic controller's union says otherwise. The GAO concludes that the FAA needs a new, national, runway safety plan, better data about runway overruns and ramp accidents, and a plan to address controller overtime and fatigue issues. As of May 2007, at least 20 percent of the controllers at 25 facilities, including towers at some of the country's busiest airports, were regularly working six-day weeks.
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