How runway safety system slowed plane, averted disaster in Wheeling

A concrete safety system slowed down a small jet that overshot a Chicago Executive Airport runway Wednesday and kept it from hurtling onto a nearby road, likely saving lives and preventing additional property damage, the Wheeling airport’s executive director said.

“The system did what it was supposed to,” Jeff Miller said.

Installed a decade ago on the north end of Runway 1634, the Engineered Material Arresting System is a rectangular, graded bed of large, concrete blocks that rise slightly above ground level. The blocks can support a person’s weight but are designed to give way under greater pressure, slowing and eventually stopping an aircraft that overruns a runway.

Miller compares the system to the emergency escape ramps often found in mountainous areas that help trucks with braking problems stop safely.

A Swedish company called Runway Safe is the sole manufacturer of arresting systems, which alternatively can be made of silica foam and cement. As of March, 122 runway ends at 70 U.S. airports have arresting systems, including O’Hare International and Midway, the Federal Aviation Administration reported. They had safely stopped 24 planes as of that report.

At Chicago Executive, both the north and south ends of Runway 1634 have arresting systems. The southern one stopped a medical cargo plane that went off the runway while landing in 2016.

The systems have been responsible for other saves at that runway, too, according to the FAA.

Chicago Executive’s systems each cost about $7 million, Miller said. The Federal Aviation Administration covered most of the cost, he said.

Only Runway 1634 is equipped with arresting systems at Chicago Executive. They’re needed because Hintz Road is about 600 feet from the north end of the runway and Palatine Road’s frontage road is less than 400 feet from the southern end.

The FAA recommends 1,000-foot, open-space buffers at the ends of runways to ensure the safety of aircraft that undershoot, overshoot or veer off their assigned paved paths. Chicago Executive’s other runways have acceptable buffers, Miller said.

The arresting system on the north end of Runway 1634 performed exactly as designed Wednesday when a twin-engine Gulfstream G150 had trouble landing a little after noon, Miller said.

After traveling through — and tearing up — the safety system’s blocks, the plane crashed through a perimeter fence and stopped just short of Hintz Road. No cars were hit and no one was hurt.

The safety system “absolutely” helped decelerate the plane, Miller said. Without them, the jet would’ve shot onto and possibly across Hintz Road, he said.

“It reduced the impact of the runway excursion and protected the lives of those on the plane as well as on the ground,” Miller said.

The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating.

Miller estimated about 20% of the northern arresting system was damaged by Wednesday’s emergency. The system can be repaired, he said.

The broken blocks were removed and the runway reopened Wednesday night, Miller said.