Originally Posted by
Australopithecus
Does anyone here know what happens when the EMAS is penetrated by an aircraft struggling to get airborne due to dud performance calculations? Thinking about EK on MEL RWY 16 which seems to me to be another installation candidate. I am curious if such an event has yet happened on an EMAS runway.
There are about 110 runway ends with EMAS installed in the USA. As of thIs summer there had been 13 uses of an EMAS system since so now we're up to 14. In the FAA Advisory Circular regarding EMAS there is discussion about aircraft landing short in the EMAS but I don't see anything about low departing aircraft. The installation is supposed to bring an aircraft that normally operates off that runway to stop in the area available from 70 knots. The installations that I've seen are sloped from the runway end. It would be designed differently if the area available was 800 v 400. The other options are to purposely shortened the TORA and LDA to make part of the runway end with insufficient RSA part of the RSA.
Any airport having air carrier operations must meet FAR Part 139 rules no matter who owns and operates the the airport. A few decades back the FAA started the idea of a Runway Safety Area of at least a 1000 feet beyond the runway. It doesn't need to be paved like a stopway but should support an aircraft when dry without significant damage and not have any obstacles. EMAS is a work around for airports that don't have open ground off the end of a runway.