FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. \u2014 Every time a plane lands, there\u2019s an expectation it\u2019ll stop safely, right on the runway.<\/p>\n
But when that doesn\u2019t happen, there\u2019s a hidden safety system at some South Florida airports designed to prevent disaster.<\/p>\n
\u201cSouth Florida has some of the busiest airspace and aviation activity in the country,\u201d said Michael Meyers, Manager of the FAA\u2019s Airport Engineering Division.<\/p>\n
With skies so busy, there\u2019s no room for chance, so at the very end of some runways, there\u2019s a system most people never notice called EMAS, Engineered Materials Arresting System.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s ultimately to stop the plane completely, but it\u2019s designed to slow the aircraft down at a rate such that it doesn\u2019t create too much stress on the landing gear so that it decelerates at a steady pace,\u201d said Meyers. <\/p>\n
In simple terms, it\u2019s designed to stop a plane safely, without causing more damage or injury.<\/p>\n
Currently, about 130 airports across the country have EMAS.<\/p>\n
That includes six airports in Florida, located in Fort Lauderdale, Key West, West Palm Beach, Venice, Stuart, and Boca Raton. At most of them, the system has been put to the test. <\/p>\n
The most recent case was last September in Boca Raton, when a small plane overran the runway. <\/p>\n
In that case, the EMAS system did exactly what it was designed to do. It stopped the aircraft safely and prevented it from reaching the busy roadway just feet away, Spanish River Boulevard.<\/p>\n
Other examples have been in Key West, where EMAS has been activated multiple times. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very similar to like riding from the parking lot onto the beach, into the sand,\u201d said Runway Safe spokesperson Trip Thomas. \u201cSo you ride around your bike on the parking, lot It\u2019s really easy to go, and then you ride straight and even right into the sand, and all sudden it becomes very difficult. There\u2019s a lot of drag on the wheels, and that\u2019s exactly, essentially, what\u2019s happening here.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt uses Portland cement,\u201d added Thomas. \u201cIt\u2019s just a very lightweight, very crushable cement product.\u201d<\/p>\n
The product absorbs the weight of the aircraft.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s designed for planes weighing more than 12,500 ponds, including large business jets.<\/p>\n
The system was created after years of deadly runway overruns across the country.<\/p>\n
The FAA needed a solution, and instead of extending the safety zone, it was engineered, and EMAS was the answer. <\/p>\n
When it\u2019s activated, the damaged blocks are removed, replaced, and the runway re-opens.<\/p>\n
It cost $13 million to install in Boca Raton, most of which was covered by the FAA.<\/p>\n
\u201cAirports are investing literally millions of dollars to keep their capacities open, but at the same time improving the safety that they\u2019re providing to the flying public,\u201d said Thomas. <\/p>\n
\u201cEMAS does have a perfect record of saving all lives in every single incident that has occurred involving EMAS,\u201d said Meyers. <\/p>\n
If you\u2019re wondering why every airport doesn\u2019t have this system, that\u2019s because the FAA requires a 1,000-foot runway safety area at the end of the tarmac. <\/p>\n
Airports that have that space don\u2019t need EMAS.<\/p>\n
For example, Miami International Airport, Miami Executive Airport, and North Perry Airport all have standard runway safety areas, so they do not require the system.<\/p>\n
\ud83c\udfe0 News From Your Neighborhood<\/p>\n
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