Study of the Efficiency of Aircraft Safety Barriers in Madeira Airport

The Madeira Airport runway has recently been extended with a $\mathrm{1,000}\mathrm{m}$ long structure over the Atlantic Ocean supported by concrete columns. To prevent aircraft from falling down special lateral reinforced concrete safety barriers were designed. In order to study the efficiency of these barriers in accident situations, small-scale models of the runway, safety barriers, and most frequent aircraft were tested at the Structures and Materials Resistance Laboratory of IST (Instituto Superior Técnico), in collaboration with LNEC (the Portuguese National Laboratory of Civil Engineering), the Airbus Company, TAP (Air Portugal), and the Madeira airport authorities (ANAM). The paper presents this study, including an initial evaluation of a set of aircraft accident related statistics from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) databases, the results of the tests performed at the TAP simulator of Airbus A-320, and the preparation and main results of the experimental small-scale tests at IST. It was concluded that, under specific conditions, the designed safety barriers were efficient in preventing aircraft from falling during landing and takeoff accidents.