AvTurf - Installations - The Leaders in Aviation Artificial / Synthetic Turf Installations at Airports World Wide





Heavy Rains and Jet Blast No Match for Artificial Turf After its success at Chicago Midway and O’Hare airports, Detroit Metro Wayne County Airport turned to AvTurf to solve two major issues being experienced on its airfield; standing water and FOD due to jet blast. In June 2002, AvTurf installed an artificial turf test section at DTW to investigate a possible solution to a drainage problem that was causing water to pool on the shoulder of Runway 4R/22L, the main carrier runway. The airport previously addressed this problem by installing topsoil and hydroseeding, which proved to be a very short-term resolution. Since AvTurf’s original artificial turf technology was installed, airport personnel stated that there have been no problems with any water pooling at this location. While using turf to solve the drainage issue at Detroit Metro, AvTurf was also asked to install another test plot to see if the turf could solve the FOD issue due to jet blast near a runway threshold. Static aircraft given the clearance for takeoff power up in order to transition on to Runway 4R/22L; the resulting jet blast from the power up blows FOD onto the runway. This presents a potential safety risk for following aircraft taking off or landing. Also this creates delays in takeoff and landings and lost revenue due to closure of the runway in order to remove the debris. Detroit Metro’s previous modus of addressing this problem by the airport was installing topsoil and hydroseeding, which proved to be a very short-term resolution. Since having the artificial turf installed along the runway, there has been no FOD blown on to the runway. Installation Location Runway 4R/22L