CONTAMRUNWAY - Contaminated Runways
Overview
Background & policy context:
Following a review of accidents involving commercial jets during take-off and landing, aviation authorities in the early 1990s identified the need to update existing regulations and flight manuals. The European Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) released one Directive addressing this issue. However, there have been concerns that the Joint Airworthiness Requirements (JAR) do not adequately take into consideration the specific performance of smaller commuter or business aircraft.
Objectives:
CONTAMRUNWAY aimed to support the JAA in reviewing the validity of the existing requirements for operation on runways contaminated by rain, snow and ice for small and commuter aircraft. Because of the scope of the subject, this study was limited to the determination of the contaminated runway drag and the aquaplaning speed of free rolling wheels.
The main objectives of CONTAMRUNWAY were to:
- identify the most important parameters related to runway drag;
- assess deviations from the AMJ 25x1591 Directive 'Supplementary performance information for take-off from wet runways and for operation on runways contaminated by standing water, slush, loose snow, compacted snow or ice';
- establish the basis for calculating theoretical drag on contaminated runways and to determine the aquaplaning speed of free rolling wheels, by tests conducted in water ponds;
- highlight to relevant authorities the areas where current regulations need modification.
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