[Archive Home][Date Prev][Date Next][Index]
"Runway system boosts safety at JFK"
Saturday, December 10, 2005
Runway system boosts safety at JFK
The New York (NY) Daily News
Planes have slid off runways at Kennedy Airport three times since May 1999,
but unlike in Chicago these incidents did not end in death or disaster,
thanks to EMAS.
That's the acronym for Engineered Materials Arresting System, a crushable
concrete bed that extends about 600 feet from the end of a runway - and
slows down speeding planes by miring their wheels in a kind of dry
quicksand.
As recently as January, EMAS safely stopped a Boeing 747 that had skidded
off a runway, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
In May 2003, EMAS stopped a sliding Gemini Cargo MD-11. And in May 1999, it
brought to a halt a Saab 340 commuter aircraft that overran the runway at
JFK.
JFK in 1996 became the first U.S. airport to install the system. Currently,
there are EMAS at the end of 18 runways at 14 airports around the country,
including LaGuardia Airport.
But Chicago's Midway Airport, which like JFK is set amid crowded city
neighborhoods and was the site of Thursday's deadly accident, does not have
EMAS.
Do you have an opinion about this story?
Share it with other readers in our CAA Discussion Forums
http://www.californiaaviation.org/dcfp/dcboard.php
*****************************************
Fair Use Notice
This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of political, human rights, economic, democracy and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
If you have any queries regarding this issue, please Email us at stepheni@cwnet.com