In the wake of the deadly mid-air collision near Washington D.C., many are now pointing to red flags that were raised years ago about Washington's airspace being too 'jam packed.' Before the crash, some 700 planes had already taken off and landed at Reagan National Airport, and the whole area has become the one of the most congested corridors in the country.
After many 'near misses' across the country in the last two years alone, many are wondering about the safety of our airspaces in general. So, what about Houston? Things always seem to run smoothly at Bush and Hobby airports. IAH has about 500 flights a day, while Hobby carried about 135 flights a day. IAH is the 15th busiest airport in the country. Yet, we do not have too many issues.
Dr. Terrance Fontaine, executive director of aviation at Texas Southern University, says we have a bit of a blanket thanks to a 'Class B' airspace, which requires three things before you can enter the airspace.
"You have to have clearance, you have to have two-way radio communications, and you have to have a Mode transponder, so you are on radar," he says. "That is what makes that class B airspace very unique and keeps Houston safe."
Now, Houston has had its share of incidents on the ground. Just this weekend, a United Airlines flight had to abort take-off because their engine blew out on the runway. That has nothing to do with our airspace or ATC. Of course, airline disasters or crashes can happen anywhere, but Houston has stayed safe.
But we also have a pretty good set up in Houston. IAH and Hobby are both separated by about 30 miles, more than ample space to get flights in and out safely.
"The spacing could not be better...where they are located as well, with IAH northeast and Hobby southeast...it creates a good mechanism for air traffic control to be able to divide flights as they are coming into Houston on arrival," Dr. Fontaine says.
That does not mean Houston does not have at least some things it can work on. According to Dr. Fontaine, an additional bit of safety could be added with a sprucing up of Hobby Airport.
"I think we could reconfigure Hobby where we do not have any intersecting runways...as a pilot, I wish runway 422 and runway 13 do not intersect...other than that, I have no issue with configuration on either airport," he says.
There is always room for improvement when it comes to airline safety. But Houston, as it stands, has proven itself to be one of the finest airspaces in the country.
Photo: AFP