- To certify Runway End Safety Areas (RESA) that do not comply with regulations
A significant part of all aircraft accidents and serious incidents occurs during takeoff and landing. Many of these events involve a runway overrun or undershoot of the runway. The normal protection for an aircraft and its occupants to these types of events is provided by so-called runway end safety areas (RESAs). Often airports do not have sufficient land to accommodate standard recommendations for RESAs as defined by e.g. ICAO, FAA and EASA. Many aerodromes were constructed before requirements for RESAs were introduced, and consequently many airports do not operate with recommended RESA dimensions.
Airports that want to comply with the requirements for RESAs face expensive and controversial land acquisition or a reduction of takeoff/landing distances. For applicable runways where the RESA does not extend to the recommended size, as part of their Safety Management System, aerodromes operators could assess the risk and implement appropriate and suitable mitigation measures as necessary. This could result in the use of RESAs smaller than recommended.
NLR has developed a probabilistic method to evaluate alternative RESA dimensions when the recommended RESA for an existing or planned runway cannot be met. The output of the method is an estimation of the probability that an aircraft does not end up in the RESA. This method is accepted by EASA to conduct risk assessments of RESAs. With help of the probabilistic method NLR can evaluate alternatives ( like e.g. reduced runway length, different RESA sizes, changes in runway usage, installation of landing aids etc.) that are most effective to obtain an acceptable level of risk.
The method has successfully been applied at several airports by NLR, including Napoli, Tromso, Twente, and Den Helder airport amongst others.
If you need assistance in your RESA please do contact us.
Related Issues
- Aircraft protection
- Alternative RESA dimensions
- Land acquisition
- Probabilistic method
- Reduction of take-off/landing distances
- RESA dimensions
- Runway End Safety Areas (RESA)
- Runway overrun
- Runway undershoot