Construction dust, oil deposits turn airport runway slippery

Chennai: Landing in Chennai airport can be tricky for pilots during rain as rubber, dust and oil deposits make the runway slippery, they say.
Though oil and rubber deposits are found on runways at all airports, Chennai has a peculiar problem there is also dust from the construction area near the airstrip that settles down on the runway.
Digging and levelling of earth and dumping of mud are happening almost round-the-clock as work is on to connect the main and secondary runways and to extend the secondary runway across the Adyar river. The exercise is part of the Airports Authority of India's (AAI) effort to enhance the aircraft handling capacity at the airport.
Once the dust settles on the runway and there is a downpour, the combination of water, dust, oil and rubber makes the runway slippery. A Jet Airways pilot reported that he found braking action minimal while landing from the Hotel Trident end of the main runway just after rain, in July.
Though AAI makes arrangements to remove oil and rubber depositsbefore the beginning of the monsoon in October and November, unexpected rain can make it difficult.
"On a slippery runway, pilots will require three times more distance than what is needed to land normally," says former pilot, captain A Ranganathan. According to another pilot, a large aircraft requires 1,200 to 1,600 feet additional length of runway to land when the surface is slippery because braking becomes ineffective.
20/09/09 V Ayyappan/Times of India

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Categories: Airports Sep 2009, Safety Sep 2009