Circular runways?

skomedal

skomedal

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Just stumbled on this topic :-


Still in the think tank stage, but logical if planning/obstacles well thought out and overcome.

Just my opinion as usual :D

Regards
 
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Yeah, saw this last week, looks interesting, but it will take some re-training with the banked surface..
 
It'll never take off... :-rofl2
 
If they arranged the whole structure to rotate, you'd always take off and land into wind. :-biglaugh
 
There is a "circular argument" (as Excel might sometimes tell you) as to whether it would, or would not, work in practice - but with modern computing techniques it should be "doable" (and previous flying tests appear to show that it could be). As one who once experienced an attempted landing in very strong crosswinds (Gatwick at the very height of the 1988 "hurricane" that "that weather forecaster" said was not going to happen), anything that makes airport operations in adverse conditions safer and less frightening would be very welcome.

OTOH, I would not want them to try to build such a runway at Heathrow - the airport perimeter would be almost on my doorstep!
 
Yes, it is feasible, but the designers have ignored the locations of any fuel dumping procedure in case of emergency landing, pollutant gasses of the planes running solely towards the terminals, all turnaround/refuelling is done in the same vicinity of the departure lounges, and the need for some really creative tunnelling for entry/exit for all manner of services/maintenance/passengers.

Different planes require varying take off/landing speeds and a whole host of taxiing requirements, meaning whatever is designed is really only for the average commuter plane, none of your Concorde/Scramjet, or autogyro/Harrison Ford shenanigans.
 
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