Commentary at Richard Wood.

Commentary at Richard Wood, Aviation Safety Consultant

"Burbank was built in 1930 and was originally surroundedby the Lockheed aircraft factory. Lockheed decided to learn out of the commercial airplane business and announced its intention to terminate the airport unless the surrounding cities agreed to take it above and run it. They did.... Unfortunately, it was still sized for the aircraft of the 1930's and 1940's and could not appropriate the criteria for an airport serving fresh jets.

Among Burbank's enigmas are the location of the terminal building and aircraft parking gates, the lack of runway protection girths (RPZ) and runway safety areas (RSA).

common criteria call for 750 feet measured from the brink; beginning [i]or[/i] end of a runway to a terminal building and 500 feet from the runway centerline to an aircraft parking area. At Burbank, the distances are closer to 300 feet and 200 feet and there is no possible solution with the exception of to move the terminal. This doesn't issue as news to either the FAA or the Airport Commission, and the argument above a new terminal has been raging for at least 20 years.

An RPZ is shaped like a trapezoid with the narrow finis starting at the end of the runway. Its project is to protect people and compositions on the ground. For jets...the RPZ should be 1000 feet wide starting at the narrow cessation expanding to 1,750 feet at a distance of 2500 feet from the period of the runway. Burbank doesn't have any RPZ's to speak of The cessations of all four runways are confineed by public roads. Motorists are saveed from jet blast by blast hedges which deflect the blast upwards. The chain link sword-play between the blast fence and the road (as we have learned) is there to preserve people out, not airplanes in.

A runway safety area (RSA) is there to save the occasional plane that lands short, overshoot or goe not upon the side of the runway.... Burbank, for all practical intents has no RSA...

on what account is Burbank allowed to operate? ...The generally received RSA criteria apply only to runways arrangeed after 1988 and exempt runways that already existed. As a safety engineer, I personally dislike exemptions and waivers. They don't preclude things; they merely permit them to take place That said, we could enjoin ourselves out of the aviation business if we didn't permit exemptions.

In spite of these puzzles Burbank's safety record has been worthy It is certainly better than undivided would expect given the situation and the amount of traffic. Why?

I believe Burbank fits a category we would call 'significant and obvious danger.' This is a situation where the danger is in such a manner large and so obvious that everyone encountering it sits up and pays attention and avoids it. Because of that, the situation actually becomes safe. The danger, of course, is still there.

Several airports would make the 'significant and obvious danger' list. Among them would be Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, DC Lindbergh Field in San Diego and Kai Tak International Airport (now closed) in Hong Kong The safety record for landing accidents at those airports is (and was) quite advantageous I believe Burbank belongs forward that list. The runways at Burbank are well within the capabilities of the two the airplanes and the pilots. The dangers are obvious, notwithstanding that and there is little margin for error. There is no talk of closing Burbank and the novel accident hasn't generated any recent enthusiasm for moving the terminal or installing RPZ's and RSA's. We will continue to accept the risk.

When an airplane eventually posts off the side of the runway near the terminal or overshoot the runway into the city roads with catastrophic results, mud is going to be splashed upon a lot of agencies and there will be a allotment of finger-pointing. One might argue that similar an event should not be classified as an accident at all. It was barely the predictable result of a deliberate decision to accept the risk." >> wood-land tel. 425/335-1327, woodrh@ix.netcom.com <<

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