BOEING AND THE US Federal Aviation Administration will fund construction of the world's first full-scale pavement-test site, designed to support research for the next generation of large commercial aircraft.
The National Airport Pavement Test Facility is to be established at the FAA's Technical Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The FAA says that new pavement-standards will be needed to handle the next generation of large aircraft, which will weigh more than 450,000kg. The heaviest version of the proposed Airbus A3XX is planned to come in at close to 600,000kg.
The test site, expected to be operational in 1998, will be used to help validate new design standards and refine International Civil Aviation Organisation pavement-loading criteria.
Source: Flight International