REJECTED TAKEOFF OVERRUN PROMPTS STERILE COCKPIT CONCERNS
A Jan. 19 event that saw US Airways Express Flight 2495 abort its takeoff and run off the runway at Yeager Airport in Charleston, W. Va., has been linked to irrelevant cockpit chatter prior to the takeoff roll and an improper flap setting. None of the 34 people aboard the Bombardier CRJ-200ER were seriously injured though the aircraft suffered damage when it plowed into a crushable concrete safety area at the end of the runway
With the Tullamarine Freeway relatively close to the departure end of Essendon Runway 26 and closer still to departure end of runway 17 it doesn't take much imagination to see the potential for disaster if one of the big corporate jets over-runs the current runway safety end.
Crushable concrete or other means of slowing an aircraft aborting or over-runnng at high speed have been in operation at many airports in USA. The above incident to a Bombardier is case in point. I wonder if the Essendon Airport Authority or the relevant State authority have considered this for Essendon Airport.