b'74 INDUSTRY INSIDERWe Need to Do Better About the Top 6 mmManaging airfield pavement is aenvironmental conditions. But pavement massive task, and the pandemicalso deteriorates from aircraft landings,Alex Sydney has has made it more difficult. Ashow aircraft exit runways and routineworked at Halliday airports lose employees, there are toomaintenance. Importantly, pavementTechnologies since few people managing maintenance, letdeterioration is not linear. Once it begins,2011, where she alone looking to the future. As long- it accelerates. developed the airport term employees leave, their experiencemarket for the RT3 In short, airfield surfaces are dynamic,Flight friction equipment. monitoring the airfield is lost, and newand we need to monitor pavementSydney performs several roles in the employees do not have the intrinsicchanges carefully so we can anticipatecompany but especially enjoys working knowledge required to assess airfieldfailure. I often hear, This pavementclosely with customers to help them use safety as effectively.is only 10 years old, so it should befriction data to make informed decisions One area often overlooked is, in someok. Or This pavement is 15 yearsabout their surfaces. She has an MBA ways, the most important: the top 6old and should be replaced. But whyfrom The Ohio State University and has mm of runways. Guidance from FAAare we making decisions based onworked in customer-focused positions in circulars and ICAO is outdated and doesage? Decisions should be based onseveral industries. not reflect important improvements inperformance and detailed, objective data.technology and pavement engineering.There are abundant choices for frictioneasily, quickly identify problem areas Further, some airports build robusttesting equipment. However, testersand incorporate their knowledge into friction management programs, whilefrom different manufacturers do notdecisions. That way, knowledge is not others never measure friction. measure identically. Each airport mustlost when employees leave the airport.The concept is complicated. Frictiondetermine which equipment will give itPavement engineers, equipment is about how tires engage with thereliable, repeatable and precise resultsmanufacturers, materials companies pavement. Surface contaminants vary,over time, so personnel can see trendsand regulatory groups need to improve and no two surfaces are the same. Wein the data. They also need to combinetheir understanding of how changes know concrete performs differently fromfriction data with visual observations toto pavement surfaces impact tire asphalt and can vary based on whereunderstand how the surface generatesperformance. We must encourage the aggregate was mined, how wetthose values. practical research so lessons learned the material was when it was placed,I often get quizzical looks when I walkare implementable. And we must identify and surface texture. Further, low-costa runway, take photos of macro andbest practices for pavement-surface bidder requirements drive decisionsmicro textures, touch the surface andmanagement, based on the number that sometimes impede airports fromtake notes. This process allows me toand type of planes landing and local selecting the highest quality installer.relate visual observations with frictionenvironmental conditions. I have heard scenarios where half of adata to guide decisions about cleaning,The industry needs to create a runway shredded aircraft tires becauseremediation or replacement.repository of documents that normal the macro texture was too sharp,To maximize return on investment,people can understand, with best while the other half (laid by a differentairports must use a performance-drivenpractices about the latest insights. contractor) was fine. I have personallyunderstanding of their surfaces. ThatAirport operators do not want to seen more than one new runway withmeans measuring friction, observingread technical documents filled with significantly lower friction than thechanges in the pavement and identifyingcalculations; they want to know how to replaced runway because the macrodeterioration before replacement isinterpret friction results and pavement texture was too smoothlikely becauseneeded. This approach should not beobservations to make good decisions the mix was too wet. I have encounteredlimited to Class 1 airports with moneyabout their airfields.asphalt runways glued together withfor friction testers. Airports with smallerAs an industry, we need to do a better crack-seal products, and other runwaysbudgets should share equipment.job helping airport operators successfully with many different surface texturesmanage their pavements. We each need because sections were replaced atThose in the industry who focus different times. All these factors impacton the top 6 mm of pavement shouldto play our part in understanding the top 6 friction and therefore safety.encourage the use of quality equipmentmm of pavement and make decisions that that provides reliable friction results.will increase safety, maximize performance After pavement installation, surfaceWe should create tools that helpand optimize spending. friction may improve in the first fewairport employees synthesize data years as the aggregate is exposed to October 2022AirportImprovement.com'