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Crushable Runway Technology Saved Mike Pence's Plane (cnn.com)
Mike Pence, Donald Trump's running mate said Friday he is "fine" following his plane skidding off the runway at LaGuardia Airport on Thursday night, adding there were about 10 seconds of "uncertainty." The Indiana governor said, "It was about 10 seconds of uncertainty last night, but we're just so grateful to the pilots and to the first responders on the scene and (that) everybody came off the plane safely." From a CNN report: The press pool in the back of the aircraft, a Boeing 737-700 chartered from Eastern Airlines that was painted with the campaign's logo, could also feel the plane fishtailing as it touched down and slid off the runway before coming to a very sharp halt in the grass off the side of the runway. Once the plane came to a full stop, the Indiana governor walked to the back of the plane to check on the press. As everyone on board deplaned, Pence could be seen speaking with emergency responders. Donald Trump said, I just spoke to our future vice president, and he's OK. Do you know he was in a big accident with the plane?" A report on Business Insider explains how "crushable runway technology" saved Pence's plane: The positive resolution to a potentially disastrous event can be attributed to the Engineered Material Arresting System located at the end of the runway. The system is designed to prevent a runaway airplane from careening into the roads, buildings, and bodies of water commonly found near many airports. EMAS is made up of massive blocks of material designed to collapse as the wheels of an airplane roll over it, sinking the plane into the runway and bringing it to a safe and gradual stop. The system is designed to be able to stop aircraft traveling at speeds up to 80 mph. The Federal Aviation Administration began studying the technology in the early 1990s in conjunction with the University of Dayton, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and the company Zodiac Arresting Systems in New Jersey. According to the FAA, more than 60 US airports -- including JFK and LaGuardia in New York and O'Hare in Chicago -- have installed the technology.
seriously you're doing it intentionally now
this is next level suck
No, sand wouldn't work just as well. Commercial aircraft are big and heavy enough that their tires would just compress the sand underneath it, accomplishing little. Plus, the purpose-built technology is probably designed to do minimal damage to the aircraft as well, which is a significant benefit.
I hadn't seen a picture from overhead yet, but I wondered how did the plane end up at the *side* of the runway if EMAS stopped the plane? It appears it slid THROUGH the EMAS somewhat diagonally and came to a rest at the side of the runway's end. http://a.abcnews.com/images/US...
The only proprietary part of the technology is how the material is made.
The material itself is basically foamed concrete. When something light is on it like a vehicle or a person, it's like normal concrete - a hard surface that can be driven on quite easily. Something heavier like a plane causes the concrete to collapse, which arrests the plane in an orderly manner. And for emergency vehicles rushing to the scene, they can still drive on it.
The FAA and many other agencies around the world have spent decades finding overrun surfaces that try to arrest a speeding plane and slow it down safely. Foamed concrete has proven to be the best material of the lot, and the processes used to make it are proprietary to the company making it. (There are multiple companies who do this.)
You are, of course, free to invent your own way to make this material and to then release it to the world, open-source style