“Don’t worry about all the rumors you are hearing about Argyle airport.”
This from Senator Julian Francis, who said that there are no major problems within the fence of the airport, following the recent rains.
Francis said that some mud that made its way down particularly in the cargo shed area, but no damage was done to the actual runway.
The Minister, speaking on the radio said that he heard Douglas DeFreitas of Nice Radio speaking about seeing equipment on the runway and that the government was keeping it a secret.
”It is not a secret.” Francis quipped. “It is part of the construction of the airport”.
“What we are doing now is called grooving of the runway and it is now an accepted norm throughout the world”. Francis explained.
Grooving refers to the cutting of horizontal lines across the tarmac with a specialized machine that carves very fine troughs across the runway.
Aircraft lands at speeds from 86 km / h to 250 km / hour.After landing the aircraft must break quickly to reach the necessary speed for leaving the runway as soon as possible and safely.
The grooving system is designed to solve the bad characteristics of friction on wet pavement and gets texture artificially.
The grooving does not affect the pavement structure.
The results obtained are the following:
1) Improved drainage of water on the runway, allowing water to flow along the grooves and towards the sides of the runway with minimum resistance.
2) Better drainage of the water located between the tire and the surface. The groove provides an artificial macrotexture , which is particularly important at high speeds.
3) The improved coefficient of friction.
5) The aircraft does not have to make circuits around taxiways, avoiding the high economic impact and the traffic problems at the airport
This “grooving” process is mainly done for the entrance of large aircraft, allowing more traction on landing.
Francis noted that some have grooved an entire runway, however only the Northern and Southern portion of the Argyle runway would be grooved.
By Ernesto Cooke
