Aspects of Humane Airport

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The American eco-engineer Jim Starry graduated from Des Moines Tech High School with 1.705 hours of aircraft training in 1957. He began to develop a new airport design in 1986, when he had experienced numerous airports in Italy, France, and the United States the years before.

He then became aware that airports all over the world were constructed essentially from the same mold: Runways are flat and terminals are located huge distances from runways, parking, and other facilities. Better transportation within the airport is considered an answer when, in fact, the airport itself needs to be redesigned.

(Illustration 1)

Ever since, Jim Starry has proposed a new airport design he later called Starrport which can save $ 1.5 billion in fuel annually at an airport the size of Denver International Airport (1.660 daily flights, Dec. 2010 estimate). This spectacular design would also reduce passenger walking time by some 80% while reducing aircraft taxi distance and fuel misuse for the airlines by another 80%. You and I would have cleaner air as million gallons of fuel saved per day would not be turned into noise and devastating air pollution.

If Runways Were Not Flat!

If airplanes land on an incline - no thrust reversal is needed to slow the aircraft. The runways are raised, the aircraft landing is slowed by rolling up a 1% to 4% incline to the top of the terminal. The aircraft takes off down a same decline.

Surely we have the engineering capability to construct a twelve story building with parking, restaurants, shopping, convention center, to hold up aircraft so that passengers can board directly from below. This concept virtually eliminates the aircraft taxi time and associated fuel waste. The plane needs only taxi a few hundred yards while coasting to a stop on top of the dome rather than revving engines again and again to start forward motion after having revved the thrust reversers to slow down.

Passengers disembark at the appropriate airline exit and park directly below their departing gate which is under the main runway. From the parking area, luggage takes one elevator to be directly loaded on to the departing flight while passengers take another elevator after being security checked. Travelers can then move through the entire airport freely. The terminal under the runways eliminates most of the passengers' 1/2 mile treks to the departing gates. Two hundred passengers on 1.000 flights presently walk 100.000 miles daily at major airports.

Earnings from the retail and commercial establishments situated under the runways create a substantial income to pay for construction. The fuel savings pay the interest on the construction loans within a few years only. After initial payback, a part of the fuel savings could be assigned to noble causes.

Re-engineering Airports and Aircraft

The possibilities of re-engineering airports along with aircrafts are exciting. Just imagine: The forward speed of the aircraft would be converted into stored energy to be used later at take-off. New light weight electric motors installed in aircraft wheels would allow wheels to be pre-rotated before touchdown. This eliminates the damaging structural shock to the aircraft chassis every time an airplane lands. These same wheel motors are then turned into generators to slow down the aircraft while charging batteries to be used in taxiing. These motor generators combined with an incline in the runway will totally eliminate the need for noisy thrust reversing of engines that easily consume 250 gallons of fuel for this procedure. Airport terminal noise would be reduced as the electric wheel motors would propel aircraft and assist re-acceleration on take-off. Having saved 250 gallons of fuel by not using thrust reversal and 500 by eliminating taxiing, an aircraft taking off down an incline without waiting in a taxi line will save another 250 gallons. That totals over 1.000 gallons of fuel not being turned into air pollution, noise, time waste and lost profits. One thousand landings and take-offs consume 1 million gallons, enough fuel to operate 200,000 cars for a day.

We have gridlock at most of the international airports. Dozens of planes are sitting on the runway waiting in line to leave while enormous amounts or fuel are washed into the atmosphere. The air is thick and brown with pollution. This isn't progress: it's suffocation.

Regulations Reconsidered?

The only reason runways have become 20.000 feet in length is to allow a safe distance to stop the aircraft. At present, every landing is at risk on an icy runway. With the runway over the terminal, the escaping terminal heat would be used to melt ice and snow off runways. The runways could also be shorter as the incline would serve the effect of lengthening the runway. Thrust reversal flaps and brakes would be used only in emergencies and would have much greater effect on a dry landing surface.

The psychological effect on pilots landing on inclined runways is a point brought up by the FAA who says that pilots might become disoriented as they land. However, a pilot landing today on a flat runway of 18.000 feet has no perception beyond the first 5.000 feet because of what's called the vanishing point. In other words. a pilot cannot discern that there is another 13.000 feet of runway out in front of him. On a rising runway, the point of the pilot's vision is lengthened. giving him a very accurate view of how much runway is left. If you stand at the end of Telluride's sloped runway, you see completely from one end to the other because of its incline. And that creates more safety.

(Illustration 2)

Eco Reporting

A promising way to observe the environment worldwide is via sustainability reporting. Recyclus recently proposed Starrport's key advantages to the prestigious Global Reporting Initiative, for their sector supplement 'airport operators'. The definitive version is being scheduled for early/mid 2011.

Methods of the past cannot be used to solve the problems of the future. With the Starrport, elegant and surprisingly simple solutions are possible, for the benefit of everyone.

Artist's impressions of Starrport:

1) WorldWatch Magazine, 2001, illustration by Malcolm Wells

2) Popular Science, March 1993, illustration by Mario Ferro