Indore: Devi Ahilyabai Holkar Airport has received a Sweden-made Friction Tester Vehicle to neutralize the chances of aircraft skidding on the runway during take-off or landing. This was confirmed by the airport Director Aryama Sanyal.
The city’s airport has not only become the self-dependent with this but now it can also let other airports utilize the services of this vehicle to conduct the Friction Testing of their runway. Earlier, the city airport was dependent on Ahmedabad Airport to get this vehicle for conducting the test.
Aviation experts say primarily skidding occurs when there’s tyre-rubbed off rubber on the wet runway. The friction testing system, which remains in a form of vehicle, checks the available friction level of the runway, which helps the airport administration to take remedial measures.
Talking about the unique features of the system Sanyal said the
Friction Tester System (V90) is a product of Sweden-based Company
SARSYS. It is one of the most advanced friction measuring systems on
airport runways. It costs around Rs 1 crore. Presently, it is available
at Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Guwahati and Ahmedabad airports as
per the their geographical location, East, West, North, South and
North-East. The one in possession of city airport costs Rs 80 lakh and has been given by the Ahmedabad Airport. Periodicity of testing at the city is once in a month, as per
the movement of the aircraft here.
How it works
The measuring wheel of the vehicle available in the system closely
resembles those of the aircraft wheel that closely correlate with true
friction values received from aircraft. It is also available with a
water system for measuring friction values on wet runways. Its
measurement helps airport administration to know the level of
friction, so that corrective measures can be taken-up to avoid the
changes of skidding the airport at runway.
