An airplane crash at Little Rock National Airport in June 1999 that killed 11 people started a flurry of discussions over runway safety.
It was then the acronym EMAS entered the aviation lexicon even though it wasn’t a new concept.
Representatives at one Chicago law firm said Friday they believe the crash at Chicago’s Midway Airport, which left a 6-year-old Leroy boy dead, will force a resurrection of the discussion of the value of the Emergency Material Arresting System technology.
EMAS, developed in the 1980s, uses dense material and places it at the ends of airport runways that have less than 1,000 feet of runway safety space. When a plane can’t stop in the length of a runway, or lands short of the runway, the EMAS material crumbles upon impact, causing the aircraft to stop.
But, there’s debate over whether Midway could accommodate such a system.
“I think as a result of this (crash) the FAA has to take some action at Midway,” said Tom Ellis, spokesman for Nolan Law Group. But, they should have been proactive instead of waiting for an accident to prompt change, he said.
“It seems to be the same FAA tombstone-safety mentality,” Ellis said, referring to the Burbank and Little Rock airports which installed an EMAS only after deadly accidents occurred.
The system has proven effective — most recently preventing an accident at New York’s JFK Airport in January — and the FAA has recommended its installation in several airports across the country that don’t meet the FAA standard of 1,000 feet of overrun space.
According to the FAA, approximately 300 airports in the nation, including Midway and Gary/Chicago International Airport, do not meet those regulations. Recommendations are now being made for these airports to either extend their runways or install an EMAS.
But one FAA official said even though Congress suggests a deadline of 2015 for airports to comply, there would still be exceptions for some.
There may be some extenuating circumstances at some airports where EMAS simply wouldn’t be possible, said Tony Molinera, spokesman for the FAA Great Lakes Region. Midway might fit within that exception, he said.
A standard EMAS requires at least 500 feet, Molinera said. The Midway runway that a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700 slid off Thursday was only 83 feet from the wall surrounding the airfield, Molinera said.
In addition, the airport, surrounded on all sides by residential streets, houses and businesses, has no space to expand.
Ellis argues a nonstandard EMAS would require much less space. And he says Midway can accommodate such a system.
The Chicago Department of Aviation didn’t return calls for comment on Friday.
Paul Karas, administrator of Gary/Chicago International Airport, said the FAA recommended it consider EMAS as it started a feasibility study on extending its runway.
But in order to accommodate EMAS, the Gary runway would actually have to be shortened. And the system would cost the airport more than $22 million to install and $400,000 per year in maintenance, Karas said.
The end of Gary’s Runway 30, Karas said, is about 250 feet from a railroad bed. Since an EMAS would require at least 400 feet, the runway would have to be shortened in order to accommodate it. The airport is instead proposing the removal of the railroad bed in order to extend the runway.
“They (FAA) haven’t made their final decision, but they recognize installing EMAS poses other difficulties for Gary Airport,” Karas said.
Ellis said Midway’s runways are capable of accommodating planes as large as the 737-700. But the design needs to account for any possible emergency scenario, and it doesn’t, he said.
If that safety can’t be ensured, Ellis said, “Maybe they should take those flights to O’Hare.”
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