Mmmm okee,... maar ik vraag me eerlijk gezegd af of het wel aan "de maatsschappij" is om wel of niet voor een schuimlaag te kiezen... aanvragen kunnen ze altijd, maar of de hulpdiensten de capacitie wel hebben is maar de vraag.
FAA zei tijd geleden het volgende: (en blijven daar nog steeds bij)
The FAA does not recommend the foaming of runways for emergency landings and warns against the practice with any foam other than “Protein” foam. Fluroprotein foam, film forming fluroprotein foam, and aqueous film forming foam are not considered suitable for runway foaming operations due to their short drainage time. It is recommended that ARFF personnel decline to foam a runway when requested by a pilot because they do not have the specialized equipment and protein foam
The effectiveness of runway foaming is not fully substantiated by the real evidence of operational incident studies. Neither the International Fire Service Training Association (IFSTA) nor the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) recommends the practice. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Airport Services Manual Part 1, Rescue and Fire Fighting, Third Edition – 1990, contains a chapter (Chapter 15) on foaming runways for emergency landings. The chapter addresses the theoretical benefits from foaming runways, but then describes the shortcomings of those benefits. It also describes operational problems that should be evaluated to determine the feasibility of foaming a runway.
Some of the problems are as follows:
• The difficulty of determining for certain the type of emergency that would lend itself to the practice such as the position and condition of landing gear.
• The time element available for accomplishing the production and distribution of the foam covering that may take up to an hour or more.
• The reliability of information on the landing techniques to be used relating to wind and visibility conditions, pilot experience and skill, visual and radio aids available and the aircraft operational problems.
• The foam-making capability and adequacy of the equipment available. Airports not having adequate equipment should not attempt to lay a foam blanket. If the runway is to be foamed, it is essential that additional supplies of foam are available and the ability of the ARFF service to deal with any concurrent or subsequent aircraft accident must be assured.
• The effect the foam laying and clean-up operations will have upon the aircraft movements at the airport and how this will affect the safety of all aircraft operations in progress.
• The weather conditions during and immediately after the laying of a foam blanket. Foam should not be laid during heavy rain or snowfall conditions.
Techniques of runway foaming differ, depending on the numerous variables involved. Without the proper equipment, training and material, the desired effectiveness of the practice will be difficult to achieve. Foaming a runway can also result in the airport fire department being short of agent at a critical time, if the firefighters are involved in fire suppression after the landing.
