Gene Cannon, PASS’s Southern Region (ASO) Safety Representative, was recently approached by an airways transportation systems specialist from the agency regarding a safety concern at Sarasota Bradenton International Airport (SRQ) in Sarasota, FL.
“He told me I should reach out to SRQ and inspect their Medium Intensity Approach Lighting System With Runway Alignment Indicator Lights (MALSR) station,” said Cannon. The MALSR, consisting of a combination of threshold lamps, steady burning light bars and flashers, provides visual information to pilots on runway alignment, height perception, roll guidance and horizontal references for Category I Precision Approaches. The issue at hand appeared to be that the terrain around the MALSR system was poorly maintained, including the site access road and the goal of the visit was to find out reasons why.
Cannon proceeded to look up the PASS representative at SRQ, Terry White, and contacted him to ask for details about the safety concerns surrounding the issue at SRQ. Cannon and White coordinated with each other for a date to visit the airport and analyze accessibility and working conditions of employees working on the system.
Working together, several factors were identified when assessing the unsafe situation, most of which were common issues that safety representatives observe. Some of the issues included standing on concrete bags to access a control box due to erosion of the surrounding terrain, vegetation overtaking the area around the site and the access road.
After the assessment, Cannon flew back to Tampa and completed three Unsatisfactory Condition Reports (UCRs) that very afternoon. “At first, I thought they were going discard the UCRs because they were closed as airport maintenance issues and not an FAA issue,” said Cannon. “However, upon further inspection, it was decided that it was an FAA issue and needed to be resolved.”
White’s willingness to reach out and seek support from his PASS regional safety representative was the crucial key in finally getting the airport to correct the erosion and vegetation overgrowth issues at the site. This is a great example of the impact PASS safety representatives have every day on workplace issues.
(Before and after pictures below.)
