The AP has a story out about major airports struggling to meet new runway overrun standards. CLT is on the list. Twice. Kind of. But not really.
This is actually pretty much a non-story here. CLT currently has three runways. Each has two ends. That makes six places a landing aircraft could overrun with potentially Bad Results. The FAA now wants a 1,000 foot safety zone for overruns at the end of each runway end. The problem for CLT is the transportation infrastructure immediately to the north of the airport: a major road and a major railroad track. There isn’t space for a 1,000 foot overrun north of runways 23 and 18L (the runway ends on the right of map) before you get to the railroad tracks or or the Josh Birmingham Parkway.
There is a work-around though. Instead of a 1,000 foot overrun, you can put in an engineered material arresting system — concrete blocks to slow a plane down. CLT has already done that on 18L. And they’ve just hired an engineering firm to design such a system for the end of 23.
Until then, the odds of this mattering are approximately 0. The overrun beyond where the 23 is painted on the runway actually means landing on runway 5 (the 180° reciprocal). That happens very little except after 11pm and before 7 am. The number of flights landing at those hours is rather limited.
Bonus observation: And yes, there’s bad reporting at play too, as the information on CLT in the AP story is outdated.
