Runway Challenge

[aeromed202]

I recall reading a story some time ago about an experimental runway. It was circular, and probably at Edwards AFB. The benefit was it would work for any wind direction and probably be easier to maintain. The B+W pictures showed a T-28 Trojan or something wheeling around on one main during take off. It was slightly banked toward the center and the test pilots say it actually worked very well. I haven't found the story yet but wondered if this thing was buildable in FS9. I would love to try it out.

 

[srgalahad]

There were at least two tests done on circular, banked surfaces.
The 1965 one which you saw with the T-28 was done at the GM Yuma Proving Ground with a/c operatedout of China Lake. Pics here:
http://www.chinalakealumni.org/1965.htm

An article in Time magazine seemed to support the idea
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,842350,00.html

An article in The New Scientist (probably of similar date was a bit more skeptical
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19225780.021-circular-runways-for-airports.html

Other references:
a paper by the SAE (pay per view) http://www.sae.org/technical/papers/660283
paper at the Defence Technical Information Center (PPV) http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=AD0617273

a slightly earlier article in Time describes something a bit more.. ummm.. ludicrous? whacko?? -- a tethered landing and or takeoff on a circular FLAT runway!
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,936623,00.html

Whether it was the same 1965 tests or earlier I don't know but I have seen a C-54/R5D also testing the concept.
Some other comments/doubts I have seen centered around the bank angle, effects of shifting winds, how to determine the touchdown zone, accommodating a/c of various landing speeds, how to transition to the 'flat surface and what happens if you build it and the next gen aircraft requires a larger circle...

Most points seem to have been rendered moot with better crosswind landing capability in large aircraft, and the realization that crosswind landings are not as dangerous with better training and understanding.

As far as FS9 is concerned, it might be possible to define a circular area in a bowl, but not built as a runway as that's outside the framework of the sim. FSX is a bit more flexible about terrain but...

Rob

 

[n4gix]

There are still some "circular runways" in existence in Indiana that date from WWII era. They are of course long closed, but some of them still exist as archeological oddities. Unfortunately, I've long ago lost the link to the pictures that'd been taken by amateur airport archeologists...

Here is a picture of a former circular runway located at KONZ, Gros Iile Municipal in Michigan:

http://wikimapia.org/9385276/Former-circular-runway

Here is an interesting "new, old idea" as reported by TIME magazine on Friday, Dec. 31, 1965:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,842350,00.html

 

[Lionheart]

I had never heard of this.. Pretty wild.

Here in Arizona, we have a lot (alot) of these aux air strips from WWII that look like triangles from the air. If you do not know what they are, they make you wonder. We probably have a dozen of them in the state, if not more.. Most barely have any tarmac left on them from weather erosion. Alot of RC guys use them for airports on the weekends...



Bill

 

[aeromed202]

I located the pictures I was talking about at

http://www.chinalakealumni.org/1965.htm with caption:
VX-5 T-28C Trojan BuNo 146286, XE-18, landing on the circular track at GM’s Desert Proving Grounds track, near Mesa, AZ, 08 March 1965.
Official U.S. Navy Photo by W. E. McKee, PH-1, O.V. Williams, PH-1, and A. M. Custro, PH-2, via John Gabbard.


I again give credit to Air&Space Magazine where I first read the story.

So is there no hope of making this work? I know of a scenery of a carrier for Harrier type aircraft. The deck rolls up at the bow to fling them up on takeoff and it actually works. The plane rolls flat to the ramp then goes up rather well. So can't a segment of runway be angled toward a focus and then connect many of these to form a circle of say 1.3 to 1.5 mile diameter? Would be way cool to play on.