Floating Airport
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A floating airport is an airport built and situated on a
very large floating structure Very large floating structures (VLFSs) or very large floating platforms (VLFPs) are artificial islands, which may be constructed to create floating airports, bridges, breakwaters, piers and docks, storage facilities (for oil and natural gas), ...
(VLFS) located many miles out at sea utilizing a flotation type of device or devices such as pneumatic stabilized platform (PSP) technology. As the population increases and land becomes more expensive and scarce,
very large floating structure Very large floating structures (VLFSs) or very large floating platforms (VLFPs) are artificial islands, which may be constructed to create floating airports, bridges, breakwaters, piers and docks, storage facilities (for oil and natural gas), ...
s (VLFS) such as floating airports could help solve
land use Land use is an umbrella term to describe what happens on a parcel of land. It concerns the benefits derived from using the land, and also the land management actions that humans carry out there. The following categories are used for land use: fo ...
,
pollution Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause harm. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the component ...
and
aircraft noise Aircraft noise pollution refers to noise produced by aircraft in flight that has been associated with several negative stress-mediated health effects, from sleep disorders to cardiovascular disorders. Governments have enacted extensive control ...
issues.


Early history

The first discussion of a floating airport was for trans-Atlantic flights. At that time a passenger aircraft capable of making the trip could be built, but because of the massive need for fuel for the flight, it had a limited payload. An article appeared in the January 1930 issue of ''Popular Mechanics'' in which a model of a floating airport located in the Atlantic was proposed. To make safe flight possible with the aviation technology of that time, it called for eight such airports in the Atlantic. But unlike future floating airport ideas which were free floating, this 1930 concept had a floating airport platform, but with stabilizer legs which prevent the flight deck from pitching and rolling, similar in concept to some of today's off shore oil rigs. The cost of establishing eight such floating airports in 1930 was estimated at approximately USD$12,000,000 . The idea of floating airports received fresh attention in 1935 when the famous French aviation pilot and builder Bleriot gave one of his last interviews in which he made the case for installing some mid-Atlantic; he called them Seadromes as a solution to economical trans-Atlantic passenger flights. In 1943, a Floating Pontoon Flight Deck, 272 feet wide and 1,810 feet long was constructed by the Seabees at Allen Harbor using a total of 10,291 pontoons. It was towed to a cove in Narragansett Bay, where 140 takeoffs, landings and refuellings were successful in both smooth and rough waters. The pontoon airfield was noted to have advantages over aircraft carriers in lack of requirement for arresting gear for landings, and these could be executed at shorter time intervals. Tests showed that damage from four 100-pound bombs exploding on the floating deck did not interfere with flight operations and could be easily repaired.


Description

In theory, issues and problems of land-based airports could be minimized by locating airports several miles off the coast. Takeoffs and landings would be over water, not over populated areas, thereby eliminating noise pollution and reducing risks of aircraft crashes to the land-locked population. Since little of the ocean's surface is currently being used for human activity, growth and alterations in configuration would be relatively easy to achieve with minimal impact to the environment or to local residents who would utilize the airport.
Water taxi A water taxi or a water bus is a boat used to provide public transport, public or private transport, usually, but not always, in an Urban area, urban environment. Service may be scheduled with multiple stops, operating in a simil ...
s or other high speed surface vessels would be a part of an offshore mass transit system that could connect the floating airport to coastal communities and minimize traffic issues. A floating structure, such as a floating airport, is theorized to have less impact on the environment than the land-based alternative. It would not require much, if any, dredging or moving of mountains or clearing of green space and the floating structure provides a
reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral, or similar relatively stable material lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic component, abiotic (non-living) processes such as deposition (geol ...
-like environment conducive to marine life. In theory,
wave energy Wave power is the capture of energy of wind waves to do useful work – for example, electricity generation, desalination, or pumping water. A machine that exploits wave power is a wave energy converter (WEC). Waves are generated primarily by w ...
could be harnessed, using the structure to convert waves into energy to help sustain the energy needs of the airport.


Modern Floating airport projects

In 2000, the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport sponsored the construction of Mega-Float, a 1000-metre floating runway in
Tokyo Bay is a bay located in the southern Kantō region of Japan spanning the coasts of Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Chiba Prefecture, on the southern coast of the island of Honshu. Tokyo Bay is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Uraga Channel. Th ...
. After conducting several real aircraft landings, the Ministry concluded that floating runways' hydro-elastic response would not affect aircraft operations, including precision instrument approaches in a protected waterway such as a large bay. The structure has been dismantled and is no longer in use. The pneumatic stabilized platform (PSP) was proposed as a means for constructing a new floating airport for
San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...
in the
Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...
, at least three miles off the tip of
Point Loma Point Loma ( Spanish: ''Punta de la Loma'', meaning "Hill Point"; Kumeyaay: ''Amat Kunyily'', meaning "Black Earth") is a seaside community in San Diego, California, United States. Geographically it is a hilly peninsula that is bordered on the ...
. However, this proposed design was rejected in October 2003 due to very high cost, the difficulty in accessing such an airport, the difficulty in transporting jet fuel, electricity, water, and gas to the structure, failure to address security concerns such as a bomb blast, inadequate room for high-speed exits and taxiways, and environmental concerns. Achmad Yani International Airport, the first floating airport in the world started construction on 17 June 2014,{{Cite web, url=https://finance.detik.com/berita-ekonomi-bisnis/d-2611187/ahmad-yani-international-airport-bandara-di-atas-air-pertama-indonesia, title=Ahmad Yani International Airport, Bandara di Atas Air Pertama Indonesia, website=detikfinance, access-date=2019-10-08 and was completed in 2018. However, only the passenger terminal and apron are floating.


See also

*
Lily and Clover ''Lily'' and ''Clover'' were two experimental floating airfields tested towards the end of the Second World War by the British Admiralty. Based on a similar concept to the Mulberry harbour used for the Normandy landings in 1944, ''Lily'' and ' ...
* Aerospace architecture *
Mobile offshore base Mobile offshore base (MOB), sometimes called a joint mobile offshore base (JMOB), is a concept for supporting military operations beyond the home shores, where conventional land bases are not available, by deploying on the high seas or in coastal ...


References


External links


Center for Contemporary Conflict - "The Atlantis Garrison: A Comprehensive, Cost Effective Cargo and Port Security Strategy" by Dr. Michael J. Hillyard
PSP / Floating Airport technology could be used for Cost Effective Cargo & Port Security)
November 18, 1999 by Michael McCabe, SF Chronicle Staff Writer "Planes would land on floating runways built on S.F. Bay"Centre National De La Recherche Scientifique
"Floatport: a floating solution to the San Diego airport's environmental problems" Auteur(s)/Author(s)BLOOD H.; INNIS D., Float Inc., San Diego CA, ETATS-UNIS

"Floating airport proposal resurfaces"

"Airport: Thinking Outside the Box"

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20061018195744/http://www.sdcitybeat.com/article.php?id=4847 San Diego CityBEAT "The sinking of the San Diego floating airport proposal" by D.A. Kolodenko Airports by type Ship types Structural engineering Building engineering Naval architecture