Pothole on The Runway?

Contributed By a Bark Di Trute Supporter who works in the Aviation Industry in the USA

The areas where aeroplanes move on the ground are divided into three main areas, there’s the runway, the taxiway and the tarmac or apron. The grassy or non-paved areas are called the infield or soft areas.

The smoothness and shape of the runway is very critical. The cross-sectional design of the runway has a slight convex shape to allow water to run off onto the soft areas. The ends of the runway where the big white lines run left to right are called the threshold and normally has grooves cut into them to allow for traction upon landing and prevent hydroplaning.

It is of utmost importance that the runway is kept clean and free of potholes. A  small pothole could cause an aircraft with small wheels to have an accident or damage the tyres on a bigger aircraft. It can also affect the takeoff speed of the aircraft. Think about when you are driving and you hit a pothole, now imagine if you were going at about 150 mph.

The cleanliness of the runway is also important because of what is known in aviation as FOD. If anything gets ingested into the engine or hits the aircraft, the results can be quite devastating. Remember the Concord ?. The investigation determined that a bolt that had fallen off an aircraft that had previously taken off was picked up by one of the tyres and thrown into the wing, causing the fuel tank to catch fire. Aeroplanes have part of their fuel tank inside the wings. 

During the investigation of the American Airlines plane that crashed at NMIA whilst trying to land in the rain, the authorities from the FAA used an instrument to check the cross-sectional shape of the runway to see if that was a contributing factor, luckily for us, the runway was previously redone.

Contributed

Note:

When the Sangster International Airport was closed due to challenges on the runway, persons who went to the airport were left in the dark about cancellations and re-routing of flights. You can download a cellular phone application such as FlightAware which will give you real-time information for your selected flight. A person picking up friends and relatives at the airport should download and use this application.

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