RUNWAY TECHNOLOGY
February/March 2016 airportbusiness 33
about conditions if something occurs," he says.
"We can also monitor snow and ice conditions
without having to send someone out to do a
visual inspection."
Another bonus: The system creates a FOD
database that will help SEA officials track how
much debris actually ends up on the runway,
Ehl said.
"We like to be on the leading edge rath-
er than the bleeding edge," he said. "There's
a lot of reticence on the part of airport oper-
ators worldwide to invest million of dollars in
something when it's still in the early phases
of implementation. But the installation here
went without a hitch…and the technology has
almost immediately proven itself in terms of its
capabilities. To my knowledge, we've already
detected three objects since we started using
the system two weeks ago.
"Our number one strategic goal at Sea-Tac
is to operate a safe and secure airport…and
mitigate those risks that are out there," he con-
tinues. "This issue (FOD) has never really been
pursued by airports. It's difficult to quantify the
severity of these events, but it's an area of vul-
nerability that's ripe for mitigation.
So far, SEA officials are very impressed
with the FOD-detection system, Ehl said.
"Eventually, we'd like to extend the same level
of surveillance to the other two runways," he
adds. "But first we have to use it to gather data,
then make a justifiable business case
to pursue the other two."
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The system is set
to pickup items as
small as a 2" bolt
like the one seen in
the testing images.
Port of Seattle