[csharpminor]

I'd be curious to know from someone with more knowledge: are there any technological improvements that could prevent this kind of accident?

It seems as though it should be possible (though perhaps not easy) to automatically detect an aircraft on runway and relay that to the approaching aircraft.

With all respect for the coast guard pilots who died, I would say this incident is the "best case" scenario we could hope for when two large aircraft crash on a runway. Had the other plane been carrying passengers the casualties could have easily been in the hundreds.

It seems odd to me that with all the safety advancements in aviation we don't have the technology to prevent this.

[matwood]

Some airports do have ground lighting that changes when it's safe/unsafe to enter/cross runways. No idea if that existed here. I know JFK has it, as I watched it in action the last time I had a layover.