Aviation Design

Abstract

An airport is a facility where passengers connect from/to ground transportation to air transportation. Descriptions of airports can be divided into landside and airside. Landside descriptions cover how passengers arrive/depart the airport terminal building and move through the terminal building to board the airplanes. Airside describes the movement of the airplanes on the airports surface. At the very minimum, an airport consists of one runway (or helipad), but other common components are hangars and terminal buildings. Apart from these, an airport may have a variety of facilities and infrastructure, including fixed base operator services, air traffic control, passenger facilities such as restaurants and lounges, and emergency services.

Abstract2

Airport Characteristic4

Runway4

International Customs6

Shops and Food Services6

Security7

Air Traffic Control7

Traffic Pattern vs. Scheduled Operations8

Airport - Navigational Aids9

Guidance Signs10

Lighting11

Safety Management11

Conclusion12

References13

Aviation Design

Airport Characteristic

Airports vary in size, with smaller or less-developed airports often having only a single runway shorter than 1,000 m (3,300 ft). Larger airports for international flights generally have paved runways 2,000 m (6,600 ft) or longer. Many small airports have dirt, grass, or gravel runways, rather than asphalt or concrete. In the United States, the minimum dimensions for dry, hard landing fields are defined by the FAR Landing And Takeoff Field Lengths. (Gulewicz and Browne 2010) These include considerations for safety margins during landing and takeoff. Typically heavier aircraft require longer runways. The longest public-use runway in the world is at Ulyanovsk-Vostochny International Airport, in Ulyanovsk, Russia. It has a length of 16,404ft. As of 2008, there were approximately 50,000 airports around the world, including 19,815 in the United States alone. (Odoni and de Neufville 2012)

Runway

The most demanding types of aircraft that regularly use Kneeland Airport (i.e., more than 500 annual operations) are single-engine piston aircraft. These aircraft are in Airport Reference Code (ARC) A-I (small aircraft only); they weigh no more than 12,500 pounds, have wingspans of less than 49 feet, and approach speeds of less than 91 knots. The runway length required to accommodate aircraft in ARC A-I (small) was evaluated using the FAA's runway length analysis program. For small airplanes with less than 10 passenger seats, the FAA's program calculates the following runway length requirements: (Ashford and Wright 2012)

75% of these aircraft 3,120 feet

95% of these aircraft 3,830 feet

100% of these aircraft 4,300 feet

Each threshold is displaced 55 feet from the runway end. Displaced thresholds are used to mark the start of the usable portion of the runway during landings. The results of the study indicate that four slides have occurred along the perimeter of the runway over the past several years. The most significant of these slides is located at the end of Runway 33. This slide has encroached into the runway pavement by 35 feet, thereby reducing the overall runway length from the previous 2,270 feet to the current 2,235 feet. (Hake 2009)

Based on the geotechnical study, topographic and geologic conditions surrounding the facility severely limit the expansion potential of the runway. This Master Plan Update examined the possibility of stabilizing and constructing an embankment at the south ...