01550087

Component

Safety is a top priority of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and runway safety is an important focus area. One significant threat to runway safety is runway incursions. In 2013, there were 1,241 runway incursions reported to FAA, a 30% increase since 2009. While the majority of these incursions did not result in a collision, reducing runway incursions is important to increase runway safety. This paper provides information about one potential strategy to mitigate the risk of incursions: aviation rumble strips. Rumble strips may be appropriate to provide advance warning of active runway intersections and published “hot spots”. Rumble strips have been successfully applied on roadways to reduce targeted crashes by as much as 45 percent. On roadways, rumble strips provide an audible and tactile warning when crossing the centerline (centerline rumble stripes), crossing onto the shoulder (edgeline rumble stripes), or approaching a work zone, railroad crossing, or intersection (transverse rumble strips). Given these benefits and the low cost of rumble strips, the focus of this research was to provide a preliminary assessment of rumble strips for general aviation (GA) aircraft in a controlled field study. A test bed of raised and sawcut rumble strips was installed and quantitative and qualitative assessments were performed with a Cirrus SR-20, Cessna 152, Cessna 172, Piper Warrior and Piper Seneca at varying taxiing speeds. This test fleet represents approximately 66 percent of aircraft at GA airports. This paper provides tables and graphics that summarize both qualitative and quantitative data. The sawcut and raised rumble strips were clearly discernible in the 3-axis acceleration data for all aircraft at all speeds. The work is ongoing, but discussion of these intermediate results by the aviation community will be valuable to shape further research and testing.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AV000 Aviation Group.

01550057

15-1654

English

20p

2015

Transportation Research Board 94th Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Figures; Photos; References; Tables

Airport runways; Aviation safety; Field studies; General aviation airports; Rumble strips; Runway incursions; Speed; Taxiing

Aviation; Safety and Human Factors; Terminals and Facilities; I20: Design and Planning of Transport Infrastructure

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2015 Paper #15-1654

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Dec 30 2014 12:37PM