There are multiple changes and updates coming to the aviation industry, particularly the ATC realm. In addition to the changes mentioned in the prior article, there was an earlier change implemented as well. Both these changes have been in response to an increased occurrence of runway incursions. The change coming September 30th relates to confusion between ICAO and FAA terminology and only changed the wording with no change to the underlying commands.
The earlier change, which went into effect June 30th, also changed actual procedures as well. Previously, when taxiing across an airport, ATC could instruct the pilot to taxi to their destination without specifying runway crossing clearances. For example, previously, ATC would say "Cessna 123SP, taxi to runway two-seven left via alpha bravo charlie." If there were any runways that the plane would cross, they were cleared to cross based on those instructions.
The changes that went into effect June 30th eliminated the 'taxi to' terminology for departing airplanes and also added a need to specify a runway crossing clearance for each runway along the taxi path. If no clearance is mentioned, the pilot must stop the plane at each runway's hold short line until obtaining clearance to cross. New taxi instructions would be similar to "Cessna 123SP runway two-seven left via alpha, bravo, cross runway one-eight right, hold short runway one-eight left."
If you are already familiar with the new taxi instructions, and have flown since the change, you have already used the new clearances. For pilots that may not have flown since before the June 30th change, it's vitally important to remember that runway crossing clearance is required for each and every runway that you will be crossing during taxi.
The change does add some additional radio traffic and can add a few seconds to transmissions; however, based on the number of runway incursion incidents increasing each year, it was an important change that had to be made. The new clearances add an additional level of safety and vigilance in the runway taxi environment.
For additional examples, you can refer to the AOPA article on then changes published earlier this year.
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