The several introductory and background presentations made to the May, 1961 AOC-ASCE Joint Conference on Increasing Airport Capacity are presented. In the “Introduction,” the general outline and the persons who planned the Conference are presented. In the “Welcome,” the reasons behind the joint meeting of airport engineers and airport operators are set forth. In “Airport Capacity and Safety,” the need for a broad, integrated, and cooperative approach is analyzed.

A brief introduction for the 1961 ASCE-AOC joint conference on increasing airport capacity.

A brief welcome message for the 1961 ASCE-AOC joint conference on increasing airport capacity.

The author discusses the capacity challenges facing airports and offers suggestions for addressing those challenges.

Discussion of steps in developing master plan for construction of airport for specific area, based on principles of 1961 Nat Airport Plan of Federal Aviation Agency; steps include traffic forecast, existing airport capacity determination, study of methods of improving capacity of present airport, and planning for new airport.

Advantages of planning in terms of Regional Airport System; new airports in urban areas are costly to develop; special requirements of airports must be integrated with all other phases of land use planning; joint action is needed because financial requirements must be equitably distributed among airport users in various political jurisdictions served by system; Regional Airport System prevents construction of competing and uneconomical small airports.

The factors that affect practical airport capacity are enumerated, and quantitative examples of their effects are given. An analysis technique is described for accurately predicting the practical airport capacity in terms of operating rate and delay. This technique is then used to show how economic analysis can be used to determine when a proposed project can be economically justified, or which of several possible solutions is the most economical.

Four years of experience of Airways Modernization Board in developing comprehensive program of inter-related projects for solution of air traffic control problem on total system basis; description of AGACS, Air Ground Air Data Link, TRACE, taxiway guidance system, and TV Marker Radar Hand-Off System; description of recently developed equipment.

Problems of jet noise, runway length, width, and runway strength for subsonic transport aircraft; noise reduction by suppression at source and/or by increasing distance between source and receiver; use of highlift devices on aircraft to reduce runway length requirement; increased takeoff thrust by use of turbofan engines, new landing gear, high lift, noise suppressor, and spoiler solutions on Caravelle and Boeing 727 aircraft. (J Air Transport Div)

Results of 14th IATA Technical Conference held in Montreal, Apr 1961; design and operation of these planes and method of handling them at airports; aspects of aircraft design and potential limitations; airport operational problems; ground handling; flight operations; supersonic aircraft noise; it appears that it will be 1972 or later before supersonic scheduled airline service is possible.

This paper describes an effort to apply techniques of operations research to the evaluation of airport configuration from the standpoint of aircraft traffic potential.

Barriers are used as emergency devices by Air Force; they consist of engaging device and energy absorbed; 3 types of engaging devices and 4 types of energy absorbers are described; quantitative values of kinetic energy, drag forces, etc, are shown for fighter type and bomber type aircraft.

Visual requirements of pilot during initial and final approach for landing, and touch down and roll-out maneuvers on ground that are part of flight operations; practical solutions including alignment guidance; height information, visual glide slope indicators, and guidance for distance estimation; approach lighting at zero ceiling; lighting patterns to relieve black hole effect.

Present methods of construction of prestressed runway and taxiway pavements with evaluation of their advantages and limitations; results of failure testing; comparative structural data on Maison Blanche Airport, Algiers, Brussels Nat Airport, Belgium, Wahn Airport, Cologne, Germany, and Vienna Airport, Austria.

Gate problems due to introduction of large jet aircraft into existing terminal facilities; development of proper blast deflection devices and refined apron safety procedures; various systems of modern gate positions, as applied on modern airports, are discussed; solutions of quick access by designing positions to reduce distances, by establishing satellite positions, and by using mobile lounges.

Results of studies on vehicular traffic at San Francisco Int Airport; use of average peak hour traffic volume as design hour for parking requirements; existing and planned parking facilities at airport; general design conclusions.