about sand
 

When: winter season

What: runway sanded

Question: after runway de-ice , the airport autority spread with sand the runway......!( es. canada)

Please, someone can explain to me, about sand ...on the T/O area!!!

TANKS !!!!

Gianni

Sand is frequently used in Norway (especially in the northern parts in wintertime).

Sand is mixed with hot water (or rather moistened) and spread thinly out. The wet sand then freezes onto the surface (usually of ice or rime) and causes the friction (ie braking action) to improve.

In certain winter conditions it's pretty much the only useful thing.

Hi Gianni1930,

It helps you to do the 90 degree turn onto the centre line.

I remember going to Oklahoma City many years ago after an ice storm. They don't have any runway deice equipment. They had dumped sand on the runway till it looked like a beach.

Generally, sanded runways pose little difficulty...just use a rolling takeoff procedure.
Small problems...solved.

Yeah, I remember those days as well. But believe it or not OKC finally caught up with the rest of the world and now have decent runway deicing equiptment. It took a couple of years of bitching, but we finally convinced the Airport Board of Directors to spend some of the mineral rights profits* on the proper equiptment.

Hell, even WPA (Wiley Post Airport) has snow plows and deicing equiptment now. That really took some doing.


* There are a few producing oil and natural gas wells on the physical property of Will Rogers Airport that have produced a handy profit for the airport for quite a few years.

Tanks...
 

tanks all of you!!!

I really suppose, SAND, mean F.O.D !!!
...and

the silcium, very dangerous for engine blades!!!

tanks again!!!!
Gianni

Bad for your turbine blades, but 1 or two takeoffs is not going to matter that much.

Going off the runway due poor braking action is also bad for your turbine blades (among other things). That aside; if they put on so much sand that it gets sucked into the engines, it's too much. The idea is to spread a thin layer, diluted with hot water, to make the sand grains freeze onto the surface of rime or ice. So you are taking off from a sandpaper, rather than a sandbox.

I suppose the blade erosion on reversing propellers may be more of a factor, really.