34
AIRFIELD SAFETY  
October 2026      AirportImprovement.com
BOS | ORH
Engineered material arresting 
systems (EMAS) are a lot like 
pepper spray and fire extinguishers. 
You fervently want them to remain 
untouched, but having one at the ready is 
simply the smart choice in certain places.   
Over the last two years, Massachusetts 
Port Authority (Massport) has invested more 
than $123 million in EMAS beds at two of 
the airports it owns and manages—Boston 
Logan International (BOS) and Worcester 
Regional (ORH). The swaths of crushable 
material provide pilots a way to decelerate 
aircraft if they overshoot select runways. 
“I hope we 
never have to use 
them,” says Sarah 
Dennechuck, deputy 
director of Airport 
Projects for Massport. 
That sentiment was 
underscored last fall, 
shortly after EMAS beds were replaced at 
ORH and another replacement project was 
barely underway at BOS. 
Not 24 hours into construction at BOS, 
Dennechuck and other Massport officials 
received news that EMAS beds had 
safely stopped business jets in runway 
excursions at Chicago Executive Airport 
in Wheeling, IL, and Boca Raton Airport 
in Florida on the very same day (Sept. 3, 
2025). Three weeks later, a similar incident 
occurred with a United Express aircraft at 
Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport in 
Virginia. All three of the runway excursions 
occurred after landings, and none involved 
reports of serious injuries. 
Timely reminders aside, Massport has 
an established history of using EMAS 
when water or natural terrain doesn’t allow 
for the extra safety area that FAA requires 
beyond runway ends. In fact, it was 
among the early adopters, installing BOS’ 
first EMAS in 2005, and ORH’s in 2009. 
But Massport is not alone. FAA data 
indicates that 14% of commercial U.S. 
airports have EMAS. Collectively, the 122 
beds at these 70 airports have stopped 
about 26 runway excursion incidents 
without injuries since 1996, when the first 
commercial EMAS was installed.   
The beds at BOS and ORH are 
EMASMAX® from Runway Safe, the only 
FAA-approved manufacturer of such 
products. The system is comprised of 
cellular cement blocks that crush when an 
aircraft rolls over them, safely decelerating 
the aircraft in a predictable manner. Blocks 
are secured together 
to form a bed that 
is sized to each site 
and the mix of aircraft 
using that particular 
runway. Trip Thomas, 
commercial director 
for Runway Safe, says 
the material has a 
EMAS Beds Help Boston 
Logan and Worcester 
Regional Overcome 
Major Airfield Constraints 
BY SCOTT BERMAN
SARAH DENNECHUCK
TRIP THOMAS 

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