June 15--Keeping airliners safe on the new south runway at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport might seem a tall order, almost as tall as the runway itself.
Rising almost six stories above the ground, its east end culminates in a straight drop down. And that is why the 8,000-foot runway will feature EMAS, a special material designed to bog down and stop even the largest jetliners traveling at high speed.
EMAS, which stands for Engineered Materials Arresting Systems, is crushable concrete, packed into blocks about 3 feet thick and 4 feet wide.
The blocks are layered such that the farther a plane plows over the end of a runway, the more EMAS it encounters. The affect is akin to driving a car into deep, soft sand.
Additionally, there will be a 4-foot concrete wall and a special ramp allowing emergency vehicles to get to the area beyond the runway, just in case there is an accident in that area.
Here are more details on the safety features at the new runway, scheduled to open in September.
How will EMAS work here?
At Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International, 6,115 blocks of the stuff will be placed at each end of the south runway, forming beds 563 feet long and 178 feet wide. They will be able to stop a 400-ton Boeing 747 rolling 80 mph.
Has it saved any planes?
Yes. In use at 69 U.S. airports, it has saved nine planes so far. Among them: a Cessna 680 Citation business jet that overran the runway at Palm Beach International in October 2013 and another Cessna Citation that overran the runway at Key West International Airport in November 2011. It's also stopped large airliners in New York and Chicago.
"The key thing is that it has worked every single time," said Kevin Quan, spokesman for manufacturer Zodiac Arresting Systems, of Logan, N.J. "We have a 100 percent success record -- with little or no damage to the aircraft."
Instead of EMAS, why not just extend runways?
Normally, runways are required to have a safety zone at each end, or an area 1,000 feet long and 500 feet wide, providing a margin of error. But many airports are surrounded by homes and business districts and don't have space.
The Federal Aviation Administration approved EMAS as a substitute for safety zones. In 2004, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International, which is squeezed between Interstate 95 to the west and railroad tracks to its east, became Florida's first airport to use EMAS on its north runway.
Why didn't the airport build a safety zone for that end of the south runway?
That would have required the airport to extend the runway embankment another 1,000 feet, adding millions to the construction costs, and would have destroyed high-quality wetlands east of the airfield, said Steve Wiesner, the airport's assistant aviation director.
The EMAS will cost $17 million, which is included in the runway's overall $791 million price tag.
If an airliner goes over the end of the new runway or crashes short of it, can fire trucks get to it?
Yes. The airport has built a ramp allowing rescue vehicles to drive to the area at the bottom of the six-story drop. While no additional fire trucks are being acquired, officials note the existing trucks can get to the east end within the FAA's mandated three-minute limit.
"We also have agreements with other nearby fire departments, and they can assist us if we have an issue," said Greg Meyer, airport spokesman.
Has a large airliner ever overrun or landed short of a runway at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood?
In modern times, no. In January 1962, a Northwest Orient Boeing 720 landed short of the main runway at what was then Broward International Airport, causing major damage -- but no passengers were killed.
Under what conditions would an airliner be most likely to run into the EMAS?
While aborting takeoff, which is when planes are usually rolling fast and have to jam on the brakes.
Other than EMAS, would any other features stop an aircraft from going over the east end?
Only a 4-foot concrete wall, primarily intended to prevent workers from falling.
Will passengers feel like they're riding up a slope when taking off on the new runway?
No. The slope is very gradual and planes usually will lift off well before the slope begins. "A lot of times, planes might not even get near that elevated portion of the runway," Wiesner said.
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