Granted Im not a commercial pilot, but comeon, traffic lights and speed bumps? Is ground ATC really that incapable of handling aircraft!?
http://www.copanational.org/non-members/index.htm
Transport Canada Institutes Ground Traffic Calming Measures Pilot Program
April 1, 2008
John Quarterman
Today Transport Canada kicked off its Ground Traffic Calming Measures Pilot Program (GTCMPP) program at Pearson International Airport. This new program expected to be applied in phases across Canada’s major airports in the first year, moving to secondary and tertiary airports in the second and subsequent years, is designed to make Canada’s airports safer by slowing down fast-taxiing aircraft and instituting traffic-control lights at all major taxiway intersections.
According to Reggie Smith, the newly appointed Director of Transport Canada new Ground Traffic Enforcement Division, “As schedules have increased in frequency and airlines have striven to eliminate costs, pilots have been increasing their ground taxi speeds. This along with the higher levels of traffic recorded by Nav Canada, has increased the likelihood of ground collisions”. Mr. Smith along with the inspectors in the new Transport Canada division believe their job is an important one. They believe that by instituting various traffic control measures at all busy airports, even those not-so-busy or downright slow, that the travelling public will be safer.
The measures and devices unveiled in the new program are numerous and employ the highest levels of new technology. For example the new lightweight carbon fibre and titanium speed-bumps deployable at 100-ft intervals on parallel taxiways are designed for 747 type aircraft but are expected to perform well for a range of aircraft including the Airbus A380, Boeing 787 and a host of aircraft extending right down to C150 size trainers. Looking like ordinary speed-bumps, these new devices are deployable quickly and easily and can be moved in as little as 4 hours. The most technically advanced in the new devices includes airport-friendly traffic lights. Similar in appearance to roadway traffic lights, these devices are mounted on telescopic masts which are set so that the wings of the wings of taxiing aircraft pass over them, but the masts extend themselves in quiet periods to shed snow from the lights in wintertime. Controlled by a taxi-program computer in the airport control tower, the lights are synchronized so that aircraft taxing faster that five knots are automatically stopped at the next intersection.
A contentious issue that is causing some controversy is the cost of the new program. The various traffic calming measures, funded 50% by Transport Canada and 50% by the GTAA (Greater Toronto Airports Authority), has reportedly cost over $10,000,000.00 and this has resulted in the Toronto airport terminal charges for outgoing passengers, to be raised by 20%. However a spokesman for the GTAA and TC did comment that new production versions of the technology used in the program will be expected to cost much less and in any case “safety is worth any cost”.
Next week COPA will cover the planned expansion of the program to community aerodromes.
