Incorrect presence of an aircraft, vehicle or person on the protected area of a surface designated for the landing and take-off of aircraft.
What it is
This is the ICAO definition. Unlike a runway excursion, the problem here is not an aircraft leaving the runway but someone entering it without clearance: an aircraft that crosses the holding point without permission, a maintenance vehicle that drives across, or a controller who clears two aircraft to use the same runway. Incursions are graded by severity, from category A, the most serious, to D, the least.
There are several layers of defence. On the ground: holding position markings on taxiways, stop bars of red in-pavement lights that are switched off only once clearance has been given, flashing runway guard lights and, at large airports, surface movement radar that alerts controllers to a conflict. In communication: standard phraseology and the requirement to read back, that is, repeat aloud, every instruction to enter, cross or hold short of a runway.
On the flight deck, crews brief the taxi route before moving, including the hotspots marked on the airport charts, and many aircraft display their position on an airport moving map.
Related terms
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This page was last updated on October 9, 2026
APA
Vuelopedia. (2026, October 9). Runway incursion. Retrieved October 16, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/runway-incursion
MLA
“Runway incursion.” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 9 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/runway-incursion. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.
Chicago
Vuelopedia. “Runway incursion.” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 9, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/runway-incursion.
Harvard
Vuelopedia (2026) Runway incursion. Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/runway-incursion (Accessed: 16 October 2026).
BibTeX
@misc{vuelopedia_en_glossary_runway_incursion,
author = {{Vuelopedia}},
title = {{Runway incursion}},
publisher = {Fundación Poderia},
year = {2026},
date = {2026-10-09},
url = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/runway-incursion},
howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/runway-incursion}},
urldate = {2026-10-16},
note = {Accessed 2026-10-16}
}Wikipedia
{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/runway-incursion |title=Runway incursion |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-09 |access-date=2026-10-16 |language=en}}