The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is implementing an enhanced safety system, the runway incursion device (RID), across 74 air traffic control towers in the United States. RID is the third of three fast-tracked runway safety initiatives launched following the FAA’s February 2023 ‘Safety Call to Action’, aimed at improving runway safety and reducing incursions.
The RID acts as a memory aid for air traffic controllers, enhancing situational awareness by clearly indicating when a runway is occupied or closed. Capable of identifying up to eight runways simultaneously, the RID will now become standard equipment, replacing various existing devices used in control towers.
The RID is part of the FAA’s broader surface safety technology portfolio, which also includes the surface awareness initiative system (SAI) and the approach runway verification system (ARV). Together, these systems are designed to support air traffic controllers with up-to-date technology, helping to prevent runway incursions and improve overall safety.
The RID is already operational at four airports: Centennial Airport (Colorado), Austin-Bergstrom International (Texas), Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport (Missouri), and Portland International (Oregon). Within the next month, it will go live at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International (Florida), Hollywood Burbank Airport (California), and Boise Airport (Idaho). Deployment across the remaining 69 airports is scheduled for completion by the end of 2026.
Meanwhile, the SAI system, which uses automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) data to display surface traffic at airports without dedicated surveillance tools, is active at 18 locations and will expand to 32 more by 2025. The ARV, which alerts controllers if an aircraft is lined up to land on the wrong surface or airport, is operational at 85 towers, with further rollouts planned nationwide.
