Landing Gears and Vehicle Tires

[jimji]

How about one of you young hotshot engineers design a system where a sensor can tell a surface is slick with ice and determine the thickness and then deploys spikes automatically from a special sort of tire? I'd bet the airline industry would help fund the research, just for starters. They lose a whole heap of money when they can't get their birds into the air.

Or has somebody already thought of that one?

I remember many years ago having to put chains on and that is one nasty bit of work. Might be an easier task now with new materials and stuff, but an automatic system would be so much better. Maybe safer, too.

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

See ice, add salt? Keeping things simple is typically the best choice.

Alternatively, airports use boilers for heat, why not run the pipes under the tarmac to keep landing surfaces dry in winter. Take a stroll in downtown Sweden where sidewalks are de-iced in that manner and you'll find it works well.

As for your automated tire-spike question. Deploy the spikes at a low setting, detect tire slippage, and automatically adjust spike length until slippage is minimized?

It won't work as well as the other methods mentioned. It ads maintenance and cost and there are always dry spots on slippery runways that will break things.

You don't have to be young to use your 'noggin.

[buckworks]

>> See ice, add salt? Keeping things simple is typically the best choice.

That's only simple if you turn a blind eye to the environmental damage caused by spreading salt around.

[jimji]

We don't put pipes under an active. We don't want salt sucked into an engine. Not to speak of the fact that salt is very, very bad for some otherwise very good quality and strong metals that are used in some airframes. Well, I'm thinking of a particular landing gear at the moment. You get salt near that metal and all hell breaks loose with your maintenance team captain ripping somebody's head off for being so stupid. We didn't even use the piss tube on a CH47A model because of that. I think the B model was also a problem. And you sure as hell don't want that salt getting sucked up into the rotor system on almost any chopper. Even out at sea they have problems and keep a very, very careful eye on what salt water can do to all sorts of equipment. And try putting a 747 on an active with any pipes under the active and you are going to have a bad accident. Use my noggin', eh?

[jimji]

Well, it looks like I was wrong. Seems there are some airfields that use heated runways, but I doubt there are pipes involved as the pressure on an active that can handle a heavy is immense. I'd bet that is super expensive, however they manage to do it. Must be some new technology involved there that is after my time. I was grounded a number of years ago due to what they call a dislocation of the chain and so pressure is the problem. And back then they said an operation was only a 50-50 deal and so I just stopped flying. No big deal. Just moved on. But I know that an active still takes a heck of a beating from heavies and requires a whole lot of work to maintain. Heating them must be some new and very expensive style of active. But I do know you sure don't want salt out on the taxiways or actives or parking areas. I don't think salt is even good for an automobile and I'd bet truckers don't much care for it either. Probably have to spend a lot of time washing it off. But I do remember it used to be used a lot when I was stateside and driving in some winter conditions. They use that hot water system in Niigata, by the way. Gets mighty snowy there and that was 30 years ago when my wife and I went there. I understand it's even worse these last few years. Japan Sea side is very tough in winter.

[jimji]

By the way, there are very few airfields that use tarmac material for the active. And those that do are not going to be letting a heavy set down on the active because tarmac material isn't strong enough. Fine for the ramps and taxiways, but not for an active meant to handle a heavy.

[tangor]

Trying to figure out how to put wheels on my website landing page.

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

Trying to figure out how to put wheels on my website landing page.

Is it a heavy site? Sounds salty.

[lucy24]

Trying to figure out how to put wheels on my website landing page.

It's the visitors who need the landing gear. All you need to provide is a line of appropriately colored lights to keep them going in the right direction and keep them from crashing into other visitors.