The ever increasing competitive environment of today’s global marketplace demands that airplanes continue to fly in all kinds of weather. No matter what the weather, all aircraft require precise, skid-free landings – every time. Even when wet and flooded, runways and taxiways must deliver the best possible overall ground handling and stopping characteristics that today’s state-of-the-art technology can provide.
Pilots have observed that transverse-grooved surfaces drastically reduce all types of skids on wet or flooded runways and provide positive nose-wheel steering during landing roll-out. Grooved surfaces also prevent the onset of drift and weathervaning. Pilots find overall ground handling and stopping characteristics on grooved surfaces a dramatic improvement over ungrooved surfaces.
To better ensure that aircraft and their passengers are safe, a grooved runway surface is suggested. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Safety Team addresses how to plan for hydroplaning in the December 2010 Approach and Landing Safety Tip (Notice Number: NOT62699). In this notice, grooved runways are recommended by the FAA as the preferred surface to avoid weather induced problems.
The International Grooving & Grinding Association keeps our runways safe for aircraft by bringing you the latest information, specifications and fact sheets on how to efficiently and effectively repair and upgrade our nation’s runways.