Air Safety

Air Safety

  • Concrete Alternatives

    Alternative to Disaster
    Short runways are an unavoidable problem when there is a shortage of land and it is not possible to have the standard 1,000 feet overrun. Judging by the Tam air disaster, not all country’s airports have the technology to prevent major aircraft mishaps, technology such as EMAS. EMAS–Engineered Material Arresting Systems–was developed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and ESCO (Engineered Arresting Systems Corporation). EMAS acts as a buffer to slow down aircraft that overrun the length of the runway. All it takes is a bed of crushable concrete–cellular cement material that crushes under the weight of an aircraft, resulting in guaranteed deceleration of the aircraft.
    Features of Engineered Material Arresting Systems
    FAA-approved
    Permits reduction of standard RSA
    Shortens standard RSA to 600 feet
    Meets FAA AC 150/5220-22
    Features material customized to each runway’s aircraft fleet
    After arrestment, ARFF vehicles can easily maneuver on even damaged EMAS surface

    EMAS Fact Sheet

    For Immediate Release

    June 15, 2007
    Contact: Marcia Adams

    Phone: (202) 267-3488

    Engineered Material Arresting System (EMAS)

    Background

    The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requires that commercial airports, regulated under Part 139 safety rules, have a standard Runway Safety Area (RSA) where possible. At most commercial airports the RSA is 500 feet wide and extends 1000 feet beyond each end of the runway. The FAA has this requirement in the event that an aircraft overruns, undershoots, or veers off the side of the runway. The most dangerous of these incidents are overruns, but since many airports were built before the 1000-foot RSA length was adopted some 20 years ago, the area beyond the end of the runway is where many airports cannot achieve the full standard RSA. This is due to obstacles such as bodies of water, highways, railroads, and populated areas or severe drop-off of terrain.

    The FAA has a high-priority program to enhance safety by upgrading the RSAs at commercial airports and provide federal funding to support those upgrades. However, it still may not be practical for some airports to achieve the standard RSA. The FAA, knowing that it would be difficult to achieve a standard RSA at every airport, began conducting research in the 1990s to determine how to ensure maximum safety at airports where the full RSA cannot be obtained. Working in concert with the University of Dayton, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and the Engineered Arresting Systems Corporation (ESCO) of Logan Township, NJ, a new technology emerged to provide an added measure of safety. An Engineered Materials Arresting System (EMAS) uses materials of closely controlled strength and density placed at the end of a runway to stop or greatly slow an aircraft that overruns the runway. The best material found to date is a lightweight, crushable concrete. When an aircraft rolls into an EMAS arrestor bed, the tires of the aircraft sink into the lightweight concrete and the aircraft is decelerated by having to roll through the material.

    Benefits of the EMAS Technology

    The EMAS technology provides safety benefits in cases where land is not available, where it would be very expensive for the airport sponsor to buy the land off the end of the runway, or where it is otherwise not possible to have the standard 1,000-foot overrun. This technology is now in place at 18 airports with installation under contract at six additional airports. A standard EMAS installation extends 600 feet from the end of the runway. An EMAS arrestor bed can still be installed to help slow or stop an aircraft that overruns the runway, even if less than 600 feet of land is available.

    Current FAA Initiatives

    The Office of Airports prepared an RSA improvement plan for the runways at approximately 575 commercial airports in 2005. This plan allows the agency to track the progress and to direct federal funds for making all practicable improvements, including the use of EMAS technology.

    Presently, the EMAS system developed by ESCO using crushable concrete is the only system that meets the FAA standard. However, FAA is conducting research through the Airport Cooperative Research Program (project number 07-03) that will examine alternatives to the existing approved system. The results of this effort are expected in 2009. More information on the project can be found at the Transportation Research Board website at http://www.trb.org/CRP/ACRP/ACRP.asp.

    EMAS Arrestments

    To date, there have been four incidents where the technology has worked successfully to keep aircraft from overrunning the runway and in several cases has prevented injury to passengers and damage to the aircraft.

    • May 1999: A Saab 340 commuter aircraft overran the runway at JFK
    • May 2003: Gemini Cargo MD-11 was safely decelerated at JFK
    • January 2005: A Boeing 747 overran the runway at JFK
    • July 2006: Mystere Falcon 900 airplane ran off the runway at the Greenville Downtown Airport in South Carolina

    EMAS Installations

    Currently, EMAS is installed at 24 runway ends at 19 airports in the United States. With plans to install 12 additional EMAS systems at seven more U.S. airports.

    Airport Location # of Systems Installation Date
    JFK International Jamaica, NY 1 1996
    Minneapolis St. Paul Minneapolis, MN 1 1999
    Little Rock Little Rock, AR 2 2000/2003
    Rochester International Rochester, NY 1 2001
    Burbank Burbank, CA 1 2002
    Baton Rouge Metropolitan Baton Rouge, LA 1 2002
    Greater Binghamton Binghamton, NY 2 2002
    Greenville Downtown Greensville, SC 1 2003
    Barnstable Municipal Hyannis, MA 1 2003
    Roanoke Regional Roanoke, VA 1 2004
    Fort Lauderdale International Fort Lauderdale, FL 2 2004
    Dutchess County Poughkeepsie, NY 1 2004
    LaGuardia Flushing, NY 2 2005
    Boston Logan Boston, MA 2 2005/2006
    Laredo International Laredo, TX 1 2006
    San Diego International San Diego, CA 1 2006
    Teterboro Teterboro , NJ 1 2006
    Chicago Midway Chicago, IL 1 2006
    Merle K (Mudhole) Smith Cordova, AK 1 2007

    Additional Projects Currently Under Contract

    Location # of Systems Expected Installation Date
    Charleston, WV 1 June 2007
    Chicago Midway 3 Spring/Summer 2007
    Wilkes-Barre Scranton, PA 1 Fall 2007
    JFK International 1 Fall 2007
    Chicago O’Hare 2 Spring 2008
    Telluride, CO 2 TBD
    Manchester, NH 1 Spring 2008
    Newark Liberty, NJ 1 Spring 2008
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    Airbus says no evidence of plane fault

    A representative for the European aircraft manufacturer told the Brazilian Congress, “We don’t see any indication of a fault.”

    A TAM airline Airbus 320 overran the runway while landing at Sao Paulo’s Congonhas airport crossed a road and slammed into an airport building, and exploded on July 17.

    Available data shows the aircraft’s brakes functioned correctly.

    But the representative said that one of the engine’s throttles was in the ‘climb’ position.

    The plane was also operating with only one of of its two thrust reversers, which are used to help brake the plane upon landing.

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    Sao Paulo International Airport’s Runway Closed

    Sao Paulo International Airport’s main runway will remain closed for two months while construction crews rebuild the tarmac to improve safety. 13 million reais ($6.4 million) will be spent to repave the runway, Infraero announced on its Web site. The repaved runway will have grooves to prevent water from accumulating on the tarmac.

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    The Cost of Cheap Air Travel

    Hindsight is teaching Brazil some hard lessons. Some uncomfortable things are coming to light, like how the warning signs have been ignored. There’s a long trail of complaints about Brazilian aviation from the people in the system–(air traffic controllers, pilots, airport employees, etc.) that urgent major improvements were needed went ignored.

    Airline safety relies on government-provided infrastructure. To put it simply, you can not skimp on airports. Things like long runways, grooved surfaces, overruns, planned SAFE approaches. Brazil dragging its feet is what killed nearly 200 people, no matter what the investigation says.

    Airports need standards, and standards need to be enforced. Would the accident have happened on a longer runway that was properly surfaced? The pilots did NOT skid off the end of the runway. When they couldn’t stop, the pilots decided t get airborne again.

    The mechanics of landing

    When landing, a jet gets the main wheels onto the runway, which takes up 1000 or more feet of runway.

    The pilot deploys the speed brake lever, then pulls the throttles into reverse thrust. This takes up runway at the rate of 200 feet per second.

    So what happens when the jet brakes and the pilot realises it is too slick to stop? The pilot must get the engines back max power–was there adequate time and space for the Airbus to do this? Obviously not.

    Are we following in Brazil’s footsteps?

    The FAA is asking Congress to pawn off federal funding responsibilities for a national system through “user fees” (as our current FAA administrator has asked Congress to do).

    Our amazing safety record comes from not skimping, not searching for cost-cutting measures. Will we continue to set the world safety standard or not? Only time will tell.