Dangerous near collisions on the nation's runways climbed for the second year in a row, prompting a renewed call by aviation accident investigators on Tuesday for new safety devices, USA Today reports. Led by several high-profile cases, the number of high-risk runway incidents climbed to 31 in fiscal 2006, up from 29 in 2005 and 28 in 2004. Still, near collisions are very rare—about one for every 2 million takeoffs and landings. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) defines such incidents as planes that nearly hit another aircraft, vehicle or pedestrian on the runway.
