Runway Excursion Info
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Join Date: Jun 2004
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Runway Excursion Info
Hi Folks
I am currently doing a study on runway excursions, or rather doing an analysis regarding safe taxi speeds, and am looking for some examples of aircraft skidding off taxiways during taxiing.
I saw a thread recently of Ryanair pilots wanting to taxi at very high speeds to get back to the gate quicker. Does anybody have a link to this.
I was also wondering at what speed you would exit the runway on the high speed exits.
Regards
Etta
I am currently doing a study on runway excursions, or rather doing an analysis regarding safe taxi speeds, and am looking for some examples of aircraft skidding off taxiways during taxiing.
I saw a thread recently of Ryanair pilots wanting to taxi at very high speeds to get back to the gate quicker. Does anybody have a link to this.
I was also wondering at what speed you would exit the runway on the high speed exits.
Regards
Etta
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Down at the sharp pointy end, where all the weather is made.
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I think ettamakwetta really does mean runway excursions - as in unintentionally leaving the paved surface.
One of our 'Rapid Exit Taxiways' (RET) - called Foxtrot Romeo - is only about 30 deg from the the runway and is designed to be used at 60kt. The aircraft can then finish braking on this taxiway before having to make a much lower-speed turn onto taxiway Juliet. Most aircraft taxi at about 20-30 kt, though there's really nothing to stop them taxiing at higher speeds if they consider it safe to do so. Turns necessarily have to be taken much slower.
We've had very few 'excursions' over the years at Gatwick - sufficiently few to put the likelihood into the 'remote' bracket staistically - about one in a million movements. None have resulted in harm to pax or significant damage to the aircraft.
All the edges of our runways, where the pavement meets the soft ground are 'de-lethalised', that is to say, the surface has a slope built in under the earth so that if an aircraft should leave the pavement and encounter the pavement again, there will be a gentle ramp if the wheels have dug into the soil, instead of a vertical face which would snap the undercarriage leg off.
When aircraft do depart from the hard surface, it inevitably means digging out around the wheels, laying metal track and then pulling the a/c out the way it came in. Trying to force the a/c to continue in the same direction when bogged only makes matters worse and will definitely damage the a/c.
There was a case at Heathrow in January 2003 where an A340 skidded on some ice on a taxiway. AAIB report here
You might like to look at runway over-runs specifically as a study. There's the recent Air France spectacular accident at Toronto - subject of hundreds of postings on pprune. The thread contains loads of stuff about other over-runs as well. Should keep you busy for hours!
Cheers,
The Odd One
One of our 'Rapid Exit Taxiways' (RET) - called Foxtrot Romeo - is only about 30 deg from the the runway and is designed to be used at 60kt. The aircraft can then finish braking on this taxiway before having to make a much lower-speed turn onto taxiway Juliet. Most aircraft taxi at about 20-30 kt, though there's really nothing to stop them taxiing at higher speeds if they consider it safe to do so. Turns necessarily have to be taken much slower.
We've had very few 'excursions' over the years at Gatwick - sufficiently few to put the likelihood into the 'remote' bracket staistically - about one in a million movements. None have resulted in harm to pax or significant damage to the aircraft.
All the edges of our runways, where the pavement meets the soft ground are 'de-lethalised', that is to say, the surface has a slope built in under the earth so that if an aircraft should leave the pavement and encounter the pavement again, there will be a gentle ramp if the wheels have dug into the soil, instead of a vertical face which would snap the undercarriage leg off.
When aircraft do depart from the hard surface, it inevitably means digging out around the wheels, laying metal track and then pulling the a/c out the way it came in. Trying to force the a/c to continue in the same direction when bogged only makes matters worse and will definitely damage the a/c.
There was a case at Heathrow in January 2003 where an A340 skidded on some ice on a taxiway. AAIB report here
You might like to look at runway over-runs specifically as a study. There's the recent Air France spectacular accident at Toronto - subject of hundreds of postings on pprune. The thread contains loads of stuff about other over-runs as well. Should keep you busy for hours!
Cheers,
The Odd One
