AvTurf Topic: Pilot Safety
Often traditional grass within airports is subject to harsh climatic factors that lead to brown spots or full-on browning of the entire patch. To combat this takes detailed maintenance and upkeep and a significant amount of planning for runway and taxiway closures. In many cases, especially during hot and dry summer months, this maintenance is fruitless and the patch will remain brown. This discoloring has serious implications for pilots in the air. Overhead, it can be much more difficult to best differentiate between brown grass and gray pavement than a vibrant green patch of grass would be. Additionally, any painting of infield islands within the airport bears another continued cost and necessary maintenance.
AvTurf helps to combat this issue with industry-leading synthetic turf that combines the aesthetics of healthy natural grass and the extreme strength of sports turf. Even with a 30-year life expectancy, AvTurf never loses its bright green visibility all while virtually eliminating the need for maintenance. The high-quality artificial grass system maximizes the use of runways and has been identified by the FAA as a tool to increase visual delineation for multi-entrance taxiways and other painted infield islands. AvTurf’s visual conspicuity is unmatched by natural grass and has the potential to substantially increase airport operational efficiency.
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This Sunday kicks off the 49th annual conference and exhibition of the Florida Airports Council in sunny Orange County. The conference is a learning and networking opportunity for airports across the state to stay on the cutting edge of technology available to them. The congregation of industry leaders, interested clients, and innovative vendors help make FAC a highly successful event that benefits both the state and airline passengers. With air travel and tourism continuing to grow each year, airports are responsible for updating their infrastructure and operations to be the safest and most intuitive it can be for travelers. The 4-day event helps airport facilities better grasp the future of air travel, how passengers are responding to changes in the industry, and how to utilize this information to create a better experience for every traveler that enters a facility.
Orlando-Sanford International Airport (SFB) is one of the top 30 airports in the world and dominates south-eastern regional travel to and from the Orlando area. Annual traffic through SFB is increasing each year with almost 3 million passengers in 2017.
In 2014 SFB installed AcTurf on a 3.5-acre plot around the perimeter of a runway blast pad and conducted a year-long study to analyze the effectiveness of replacing natural grass with the synthetic turf system. At the end of the testing period, the airport detected no burrowing activity. The transition to artificial grass completely mitigated possible encounters between tortoises and aircraft during take-off and landings and provided a non-lethal and cost-effective, long-term solution for SFB.
As a major airline hub serving the Great Lakes region of the United States, Detroit Metro Wayne Airport (DTW) is one of the busiest airports in the nation. With a total of almost 35 million passengers in 2017, DTW’s operational efficiency is vital to helping almost 100,000 people get to their destination each day. However, for years Detroit Metro Wayne Airport faced ongoing complications on its main carrier runway and runway thresholds from standing water and jet blast foreign object debris (FOD). Conventional methods of resolution including hydroseeding and installing topsoil were unsuccessful and proved to be only short-term solutions.
In 2002, DTW made the decision to switch from natural grass to synthetic turf to stabilize the airport’s groundcover, enhance visual delineation for its pilots, and reduce maintenance time and costs. The artificial grass from AvTurf eliminated the drainage issues causing water to pool on the main carrier runway and confirmed to DTW that AvTurf was a turn-key solution for future projects as well. In 2010 the airport took the initiative to install AvTurf to eradicate FOD issues near the main takeoff runway. AvTurf’s system aids in reducing flights delays from runway closures due to safety hazardous debris and is durable to withstand powerful jet blasts.