5 ms·
Ever driven a car through a field? What looks smooth is often anything but, and airliners are simply not designed to take off from unprepared surfaces. Flatte
by nvy 3y ago
Ever driven a car through a field? What looks smooth is often anything but, and airliners are simply not designed to take off from unprepared surfaces.
Flattening frozen ground seems significantly more difficult than just laying down panels.
- pxeboot 3y agoIce runways are relatively common in some places. They pump water water onto them to create a flat surface. Similar to ice roads used for accessing oil fields and mines.
- wolverine876 3y agoDo they use 'off-the-shelf' passenger jets?
- pxeboot 3y agoI had to Google this one, but yes, it looks like an A340 has been used in Antarctica recently [1]. [1] https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/antarctica-flight-ice-runway-landing-b1963510.html https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/antarct...
- kotaKat 3y agoI'm impressed. They got four APUs to take off from Antarctica? ;)
- inferiorhuman 3y agoI suspect the biggest concern operating off of an earthen runway is ingestion of FOD. For unimproved runways the 737 Classic could be fitted with so-called gravel kits to reduce the chances of ingesting crap from the runway on takeoff. That's why you still see 737-200s in service in the wintery parts of Canada – the fans on the NG and MAX (and A320) are too big to make gravel kits practical. However, where the weight itself is an issue, Indian Airlines (now Air India) ordered some A320s with beefier landing gear precisely to operate something that heavy off of less than great paved runways. Ural's not going to have much in the way of manufacturer support though so their options are a bit limited.
- cozzyd 3y agoThe Kiwis sometimes fly a 757 to McMurdo (see e.g. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/3173536/Getting-there-in-half-the-time-opens-up-a-world-of-possibilities https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/3173536/Getting-there-in-ha... ) And "normal" C-130s and C17's can land too (I've been on both to McMurdo...) But this is a packed snow runway. Williams Field is for ski-equipped aircraft only, I believe.
- culebron21 3y agoA tractor and pouring water & letting it freeze will do the job. https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/101015/ https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/101015/
- nvy 3y agoOh that's a neat trick I'd never encountered.
- qingcharles 3y agoUsed to do this on a runway that we would rent so we could practice drifting our Japanese supercars without killing too many sets of tyres.