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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.
compiler failure, unknown variable. pick up your cards and fix it.
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
Crushable Runway Technology Saved Mike Pence's Plane
I was really worried that Mike Pence's plane might have been damaged....
My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
Unnumbered cards have been sorted by weight.
If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
Mike Pence was on the plane. It was Mike Pence's plane. It was also his journalist pool's plane. And the pilots' plane. And Eastern Airlines Group, Inc's plane.
Showing possession doesn't necessarily mean having ownership.
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.
Sand and gravel will freeze solid in winter months.
A post a day keeps productivity at bay.
For one thing, you don't want to have the plane end up in a big pile of sand. People need to get off (and away from) the plane. Not easy to do if they have to walk/run through sand. Emergency vehicles need to get to the plane. Are you going to have fire engines and ambulances driving through sand?
They need to be able to keep the thing clear of snow and ice. Going to drive a runway snowplow through sand?
There is a requirement that the arresting action is predictable. A pile of dry sand is going to act much different than a pile that has been rained on for a week. A pile is frozen sand is going to be practically worthless.
I bet the engineers at these evil proprietary companies (and their pawns at the FAA) could figure this stuff out.
The material is designed to exhibit a specific rate of retardation on an aircraft regardless of the weather conditions - sand changes its properties depending on stuff like water retention etc, meaning an aircraft of a specific given weight would have a range of stopping distances, and that is what you want to avoid. You dont want a rate that is too high, as that may damage the aircraft or its passengers, and you don't want a rate that is too low, as the aircraft may escape the zone and cause death or injury.
That is why they don't use sand, but use a material designed for it. Its *designed* for it.
Why can(sic) they use a sand pit instead...An equivalent area of sand would work just as well...
Damn, I doubt anybody even considered that as on option, or tested it and proved if it worked not. Too bad you weren't on the project, you could have saved us millions!
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...
Overwhelmed by the design of everyday things. Engineering marvels everywhere, everyone enriched thereby.
What are the odds that this is the only politically neutral post in this thread?
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
Trump-Palin