Wheeling airport spending $6.3 million on runway safety
The Chicago Executive Airport will use a recently-announced $6.3 million grant to complete safety-related improvements on its main runway.
The mostly federal funds - administered through the Illinois State Block Grant program - will pay for the installation of an Engineered Materials Arresting System (EMAS) at the north end of Runway 16/34, the runway at the suburban airport used by jet aircraft.
A similar improvement is already underway at the runway's south end and should be complete by late October, says Jamie Abbott, the airport's executive director. Installation is expected to begin on the system at the north end of the runway next summer, he says.
The EMAS system is a grid of crushable concrete blocks placed at the end of runways. In the event an aircraft overruns a runway during a landing, Abbott says, the landing gear hits this portion of runway and the crushing motion slows and, in many cases, stops the aircraft, limiting damage.
"The goal is to slow the plane down so they don't get to Palatine Road," he says. "The system is designed to decrease damage to the airplane. A plane that has to use this system comes out with minimal damage."
While there have been no such overrun incidents in the last 10 years, Abbott says the EMAS installation is a "great safety addition" for pilots at Chicago Executive Airport.
"Very few general aviation airports - like ours - have this system," he says. "It's mainly found at commercial service airports, such as O'Hare and Midway."
The EMAS system will replace 350 feet of asphalt at the end of the runway, Abbott says, and will not extend the length of the runway "one foot."
The main runway - Runway 16/34 - is 5000 feet long and is the runway used by most jet aircraft at the airport.
News of the grant was announced in mid-September by U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and Rep. Brad Schneider.
Chicago Executive Airport has been owned by the village of Wheeling and the city of Prospect Heights since December 1986.
The airport's executive board decided in May to study the feasibility of extending its main runway from 5,000 to 7,000 feet.