A380900 From France, joined Dec 2003, 1009 posts, RR: 1 Posted (4 years 12 months 2 days 13 hours ago) and read 2095 times:
Given the huge numbers of surveillance cameras everywhere nowadays, I find it odd that major airports do not have cameras pointed at runways 24/7. Or maybe they do and we just don't get to see the footage after the concorde crash or the Kalitta plane in Brussels ? Does anybody know of airports which are under camera surveillance?
I'm sure a camera tracking each take-off would not be that difficult to create. It would be a minor cost in the overall runway budget and safety features.
Jokestar From Australia, joined Apr 2008, 123 posts, RR: 0 Reply 1, posted (4 years 12 months 2 days 11 hours ago) and read 1970 times:
At my local airport where I am finishing my PPL, currently, which is Bankstown, in Sydney (YSBK), there are camera boxes aligned with the holding points feeding live images to the tower to ensure that no runway incursions go unnoted and also so that they can immediately alert any aircraft that does happen to roll past the holding point without a clearance. These are also equipped with infra-red, so they work at night. Not sure if this is what you were referring to, but I thought it was an interesting point, as I only found out about 2 weeks ago, after flying there for 2.5 years, haha.
NA From Germany, joined Dec 1999, 9613 posts, RR: 10 Reply 2, posted (4 years 12 months 2 days 11 hours ago) and read 1934 times:
Quoting A380900 (Thread starter): Given the huge numbers of surveillance cameras everywhere nowadays, I find it odd that major airports do not have cameras pointed at runways 24/7.
That would be indeed very strange if that would not be the case. Strange though that not a single video caught an accident (or, more likely, such video was never released for unknown reason). The suveillance cameras that caught "on-airport" accidents were always videos from cameras fixed somewhere else at a distance which just caught accidents "by accident", and only sequences of it. (i.e. Tradewinds 742F in 2006 or TAM A320 last year).
If the 742F accident yesterday is not on video its a serious oversight. But if its on video, it should be out already where the freighter broke up. Odd.
Caribb From Canada, joined Nov 1999, 1627 posts, RR: 9 Reply 3, posted (4 years 12 months 2 days 10 hours ago) and read 1876 times:
I've asked myself the same question. Even if the cameras were placed at pavement level it would be a visual aid for fog and other weather related situations that might make viewing the runway difficult from the tower. If it could be accessed by landing aircraft the pilots would also have an insight into what they were heading into.
RFields5421 From United States of America, joined Jul 2007, 6150 posts, RR: 25 Reply 4, posted (4 years 12 months 2 days 10 hours ago) and read 1837 times:
Depending upon capabilities, a surveillance camera can cost up to $80,000 per year to maintain, monitor and operate.
Runways are an extremely low priority compared to the perimeter. While a video is very useful, the FDR and CVR instruments on aircraft today can give investigators as clear, or even better, picture of what happened in an accident than a camera.
NA From Germany, joined Dec 1999, 9613 posts, RR: 10 Reply 5, posted (4 years 12 months 2 days 10 hours ago) and read 1758 times:
Quoting RFields5421 (Reply 4): Depending upon capabilities, a surveillance camera can cost up to $80,000 per year to maintain, monitor and operate.
Runways are an extremely low priority compared to the perimeter. While a video is very useful, the FDR and CVR instruments on aircraft today can give investigators as clear, or even better, picture of what happened in an accident than a camera.
Well, given that the City of London for example finds it important that cameras are everywhere and an average Londoner is captured on video a few hundred times a day I find it very odd that this should not be the case at major airports.
FDR and CVR can of cause determine more in detail what happened in the end, but as they say, a picture says more than a thousand words. Evaluating the recorders is also a often a painstakingly slow process.
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