FAA Developing Airport Structure Frangibility Standard | Aviation International News

FAA Developing Airport Structure Frangibility Standard

The agency seeks to develop a standardized test protocol for airport safety area structures.

By Curt Epstein • Business Aviation Services Editor

July 23, 2015

Improving airport safety is one of the FAA’s fundamental missions, and as part of that effort it is conducting a series of tests to establish standardized frangibility test performance characteristics for airport structures–such as approach light system towers or other landing aids–in runway safety areas to assess the ease with which they break apart on impact. According to the agency there are several ways in which a structure may properly fail when struck, ways that will lessen the damage suffered by the aircraft and reduce the possibility of its changing direction. Special shearable bolts mounting the structures to the tarmac, and inherently breakable couplings used in their construction are two such examples.

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