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An endless runway is an aircraft
Video link of proposed runway
Airport engineering {{aviation-stub
An endless runway is an aircraft runway
In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt concrete, asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (sod, ...
which loops around to form a shape such as a circle. There were experiments with this concept in the 1960s and it is now being researched at the Nederlands Lucht- en Ruimtevaartcentrumthe national aerospace laboratory of the Netherlands.
History
With the birth of aviation, the thought of taking a car to the office became old-style and soon people started to invent ways to take the airplane to the office. In an article in "Popular Science" from 1919, a circular runway was designed on top of some skyscrapers in New York, where one of the buildings would serve the purpose of aircraft parking. A design was made for a circular runway on the roof of Kings Cross railway station in London. In the 1960s, the idea was taken up by a marine officer, who actually performed a number of take-offs and landings with aircraft at a circular track designed for testing cars. This work stimulated a large number of patents with runways shaped as circles or ovals and often straight tracks attached to it for taking off and landing. In the 2010s, the idea was studied by a European consortium led by an engineer at theRoyal Netherlands Aerospace Centre
The Royal Netherlands Aerospace Centre (Royal NLR; ), formerly known as the National Aerospace Laboratory (NLR; ) is an aerospace research organization of the Netherlands and is one of its major technological institutes. These institutes perform a ...
. Their plans for a pilot included a smaller circular runway for delivery drones.
Safety issues
Increased runway width. Instrument Landing System can be used for the straight approach but will require modification or a new system to cope with the curving runway. Water will run off the banked runway better than at present. Use of residual heat from parking lots and offices could be used to heat the runway to reduce ice.See also
*Index of aviation articles
Aviation is the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft, especially heavier-than-air aircraft. Articles related to aviation include:
A
Aviation accidents and incidents
– Above Mean Sea Level (AMSL)
– ADF
– Acces ...
*Rocket sled launch
A rocket sled launch, also known as ground-based launch assist, catapult launch assist, and sky-ramp launch, is a proposed method for launching space vehicles. With this concept the launch vehicle is supported by an eastward pointing rail or ma ...
*Ski-jump (aviation)
In aviation, a ski-jump is an upwardly curved ramp that allows a fixed-wing aircraft to take off from a runway that is shorter than the aircraft normally requires. By providing an upward vector from the ski-jump's normal force, the aircraft is l ...
References
External links
Video link of proposed runway
Airport engineering {{aviation-stub