Airport

What do pilots think of the new “circular” runway concept?

According to Quora Debate by Laurence Sizemore current Boeing 767 captain.

I cringed when I saw the simulated video of the A380 landing on the circular runway (and not only because of the gear-up approach!). It looks like a wingtip strike or a pod (engine) strike waiting to happen.

The idea might work fine when everything goes according to plan, but a runway excursion would be absolutely disastrous, as would any sort of long landing (ie: landing somewhere after the intended touch-down point).

Land too far to the inside of the circle and you drag wingtips and engine pods on the ground and risk cartwheeling to the collective death of everyone on board.

Land too far to the outside of the circle and you ‘high side’ (motorcycling term), catch the outer landing gear in the dirt, spin around and risk cartwheeling to the collective death of everyone on board.

Takeoffs are going to be interesting. One of the more difficult types of aircraft to fly is the ‘tailwheel’ design. They’re challenging to fly in part because a take-off is a three-step process whereby you first lift the tail off the ground, stabilise, and then lift the rest of the aircraft off the ground. A take off on a banked circular runway would be similarly complex: you’d need to lift the inside landing gear off the ground, stabilise, then lift the rest off the ground… and do you lift the nose gear first, or second, or when?! If you get the timing wrong, then you either drag wingtips and engine pods on the ground and risk cartwheeling to the collective death of everyone on board, or catch the outer landing gear in the dirt, spin around and risk cartwheeling to the collective death of everyone on board.

If you do take off ‘normally’, you’d achieve that by making the diameter of the circle you carve out in pitch to be less than the diameter of the banked runway, and then you’d lift off pitching up and simultaneously rolled left, you’d need a heap of opposite rudder input to counter the sideslip and yaw imposed by the roll, and the pilot flying would be very very busy while they’re very very close to the ground. If an engine quits at that point in the flight, you drag wingtips and engine pods on the ground and risk cartwheeling to the collective death of everyone on board.

I have problems with the claim that up to three aircraft could operate from the same runway at once. Again, it will work well when everything goes to plan, but on that one day when the guy behind you can’t stop in time (or doesn’t know you’re there because he can’t see you in the fog), he rolls right over the top of you to the collective death of everyone on board both aircraft. Would anyone like to try Tenerife again?

Aviation is a very risk averse business. It’s just too damned expensive to make mistakes. The circular runway concept is a lot like communism: it’s an wonderfully beautiful idea that absolutely can not work in real life!

About Author

Laurence Sizemor

Jeff Loftin, Former USAF fighter pilot, current Boeing 767 captain

and Peter Wheeler, Qualified flight instructor in Australia, NZ and UK.

you can follow him : click

Courtesy : Laurence Sizemor by Quora

Airport

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