Pilots involved in two recent runway overruns have veered off the landing runway and onto adjacent grass, for the most part avoiding the engineered materials arresting system (EMAS) designed to safely halt an overrun.
Representatives of the industry and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) told a safety conference held by the Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA) in Washington in late July that intentional avoidance of EMAS — a crushable concrete installation placed at the end of a runway — has figured in only a small number of events, and that they cannot explain why it has happened.
“There’s a myth that if you take the dirt, you won’t be on the news,” said FAA Runway Safety Group Manager James Fee.
Capt. Greg Wooley, vice president of flight operations for ExpressJet, agreed, adding that some may also believe that the grass and dirt in an off-runway rollout might help stop the airplane.
One recent event involved an Eastern Air Line…
