[Closed] Heated runways

It interferes with the treadmill mechanics.

I'll get my coat

Probably one of those things thats a really good idea. But try closing one of Heathrow airports runways for a couple of weeks whilst they do the necessary work and see who shouts loudest!

It interferes with the treadmill mechanics.

Couple of factors - sheer cost of heating that area - something like 15,000,000 square ft of runway?
Runways are designed to take the fairly high loads of aircraft landing so are fairly thick - you'd need a strong heating system to penetrate that thickness to a useful temperature.
New build runways are not very common, so they resurface existing rather than dig up and start again - imagine revenue lost?
Cost-benefit of this? For a few days a year in the UK probably not worth it compared to a bit of overtime. Maintaining the vehicles used won't be that high either.
Fog - warm ground + cold water being heated will probably produce a local fog bank - not so good.
Other aircraft operating surfaces needed to be kept clear for parking etc so may as well use the same equipment for both.
Most places that are cold for extended periods have more predictable weather patterns, so the snow & ice procedures are more effective eg dryer weather and no thaw means ploughing works quickly and effectively.

We're a small island that is a bit crap with the weather. It is the way of the UK.

It interferes with the treadmill mechanics.
I'll get my coat

Beat me to it!

We won't need heated runways, according the green people; Global warming or something!? lol

Good god tootall, that is a very wel thought through responce, have youself a beer.

I thought thinking was banned on STW. I think TooTall should be banned. But that means I've thought too so now I might get banned too, depends what the mods think really.

Sorry fellas - I'll try to keep it pointless. You'd never think I had been responsible for such a job before and had been chatting to a mate this week about how clear his runway was - would you? 😀

Its a workable idea though...was riding round the local uni at the weekend and their boiler house is some way from the main buildings, you could see the path of the underground pipes as the snow had melted along the route 🙂

I've seen (big) planes landing on ice at the south pole so why can't they land on an inch of snow at Heathrow?

Howabout they use a heavy vehicle fitted with hot air blowers to melt it where required?

Howabout they use a heavy vehicle fitted with hot air blowers to melt it where required?

Yeah, but where are they going to find one of those at an airport?

I've seen (big) planes landing on ice at the south pole so why can't they land on an inch of snow at Heathrow?

but not a takeoff and landing every three minutes, it's a whole different thing with a busy international airport than the occasional landing done by specialist crews and aircraft

Howabout they use a heavy vehicle fitted with hot air blowers to melt it where required?

fine until it refreezes into a two mile long ice rink

Snow tyres and it's sorted............. innit?

they have to re tar the runway to often (and the heating would become less and less effective)

implementing and maintaining the heating would cost far more in the long and short term than using vehicles to shovel snow.

Surely they could fit a set of Ice Spikers in flight 🙂

Good god tootall, that is a very wel thought through responce, have youself a beer.

A banning would be more suitable.

Sensible answers 🙄

I used to work for a company that designed district heating systems. A heated runway was discussed for T5 but I left them before any decission was made so I don't know how it did on the feasability study.

Howabout they use a heavy vehicle fitted with hot air blowers to melt it where required?

Erm - a mile long and 200 ft wide, permanently kept warm? Plus the operating surfaces? You'd never manage that - it would freeze again before you got back to it. They use icing inhibitors sprayed onto the surface.

I'm surprised they can take off at all - with all that power being laid down I'd have thought they'd just wheelspin like crazy.

Couldn't they just warm their hands up on her tits?

Soz - I meant to say.... Couldn't they just warm the tyres up.

PMSL @ jimmy 😆

Don't you know that when its icy they stick their 747's in 2nd and slip the clutch a bit?

trains used to put sand on the rails before they set off to give them traction. I want pilots to have a lever in the cockpit which can release sand right in front of the wheels just before they touch the ground please.

Speaking of airport solutions, I often wondered whatever happened to that prototype fog eating machine that was being touted for Bristol airport (often fog bound due to highly sensible geographical/meteorological location choices). Anyone know what happened?

I Was In stockholm last winter and they had 3 snowplows going up and down the runway before every plane,
Cacked my pants feeling the plane skid on ice during the landing though.

I want pilots to have a lever in the cockpit which can release sand right in front of the wheels just before they touch the ground please

FFS it is the 21 st century what are you thinking of man
Surely a highly sophisticated computer controlled automated system calibrated by laser which triggers when it detects ground at 1 m away 🙄

Probably a good idea actually.

I'm surprised they can take off at all - with all that power being laid down I'd have thought they'd just wheelspin like crazy.

PMSL. I [i]really[/i] hope you're joking 😀

Nah it's just the brits. Quote from an American on TV yesterday;
'We had 6 foot of snow and took of on time, you've had a few inches and we couldn't land'

GrahamS - Member

I'm surprised they can take off at all - with all that power being laid down I'd have thought they'd just wheelspin like crazy.

PMSL. I really hope you're joking

wha...?

As the wheels are not actually driven or powered how could they wheelspin?
Can you get wheel spin rolling down a hill?

'We had 6 foot of snow and took of on time, you've had a few inches and we couldn't land'

[url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/glasgow_and_west/8427830.stm ]aircraft slides off end of runway[/url]

So, I have spent a bit of time thinking about this and the answer is really quite simple....... Build longer bloody runways. How could the Ryanair jet slide off a 20 mile runway, that would take some doing!!! 😉

wha...?

Sorry jimmy, that harks back to the old "plane on a conveyor belt" threads (google them!)

"all that power being laid down" isn't actually being laid down through the wheels y'see. They really just stop the plane scraping along the ground.

Hence why this plane can take off:
[img] [/img]