Why modern airports are designed to let planes crash safely into the ground
In short: A runway excursion happens when an aircraft leaves its designated path during takeoff or landing. While often caused by pilot error or poor weather, these incidents are the most frequent type of landing accident. To prevent catastrophe, engineers now use specialized materials that collapse under a plane to stop it.
A runway excursion occurs when an aircraft makes an inappropriate exit from its designated runway. This can happen if a departing plane fails to lift off or abort its takeoff in time, if a landing aircraft cannot stop before the runway ends—known as a runway overrun—or if a plane veers off the side of the pavement. Between 1995 and 2007, these incidents accounted for 96% of all runway accidents and 80% of those involving fatalities.
The challenge of stopping modern aircraft became clear with the arrival of faster jet airliners in the 1960s. When Continental Airlines Flight 12 overran a 7,000-foot runway in 1965, investigators concluded that stopping was physically impossible given the available space. Because urban airports like Kansas City Municipal often lacked room to expand, cities were forced to build entirely new facilities, such as the Kansas City International Airport, which opened in 1972 with significantly longer runways.
To address space constraints at airports like LaGuardia, the Federal Aviation Administration began researching new safety technologies in the 1990s. This led to the Engineered Materials Arrestor System (EMAS), a high-energy-absorbing surface installed beyond the runway end. Designed to collapse under the weight of an aircraft, EMAS slows the plane down rapidly. By December 2020, this system had been installed at over 100 locations across the United States and had safely stopped 15 aircraft involved in overruns, including a Boeing 737 carrying 37 people in 2016.
Beyond physical infrastructure, the industry is pursuing technological solutions to prevent these incidents before they occur. Airbus is developing a Runway Overrun Prevention System to enhance pilot situational awareness and automation. Additionally, the 2016 introduction of the Takeoff and Landing Performance Assessment (TALPA) requires airport operators to report specific Runway Condition Codes, ensuring pilots have better data regarding surface conditions before they attempt to land or take off.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: Runway excursion
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