AVP to be First Airport in PA with Arrestor System

The Scranton Times-Tribune
07/20/2007
Airport getting safety system
BY JOE SYLVESTER
STAFF WRITER

PITTSTON TWP. — A $5.5 million system to be installed at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport is designed to prevent runway accidents like the one that killed 189 people in Brazil on Tuesday.

The Engineered Material Arresting System will consist of 200 feet of soft cellular concrete, banked at the end of the runway to prevent overruns on takeoffs and landings, said David Heald of the system’s Philadelphia-area manufacturer, ESCO.

The move comes not in response to the Brazilian tragedy, but because the Federal Aviation Administration wants the airport to install the system in conjunction with runway rehabilitation and paving, airport Director Barry J. Centini said.

“They’re funding it,” he said.

The FAA will pay 95 percent of the cost. The state will pay 2.5 percent and Lackawanna and Luzerne counties will pay 2.5 percent.

The airport board on Thursday approved a $5.5 million contract with low bidder L.R. Costanzo Co. Inc., Scranton, to install the system and a $134,800 contract to URS Corp., Hunt Valley, Md., for the construction inspection and administration.

The concrete material’s depth will range from 6 to 7 inches at the beginning to about 20 inches at the end, Mr. Heald said during the meeting. He said only 27 of the systems are in use worldwide, with 25 in the United States, including John F. Kennedy International in New York City and Logan International in Boston.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton will be the first airport in Pennsylvania to have the technology.

http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/in ... 0572&rfi=8

I'm hoping the FAA 727 will be paying a visit :D