Avweb has an article mentioning EMAS: “Southwest Airlines Flight 278 slid off the end of the runway while landing at California’s Hollywood Burbank Airport (BUR) at 9:05 am local time on Thursday. According to a statement issued by the FAA, the Boeing 737 came to rest in the Engineered Material Arresting System (EMAS) at the end of Runway 8. No injuries …”
Note the crushed “bricks” near the nose wheel – that’s EMAS
The initial cause seems to be that the plane landed on a wet runway with a tailwind. It looks like the EMAS was high enough to touch the landing gear, engines and access panels.
EMAS is used in the USA when there is less than 1000′ of suitable overrun for a runway. As the “bricks” get crushed, speed is dissipated. Of the 13 reported incidents, half have been airliners and half GA or cargo planes.
I’m interested in finding out:
- how much it costs to remediate the EMAS
- how the pax got back to the terminal
- how the plane got free of the EMAS since it can’t taxi
- did the engines ingest EMAS?
- were the landing gear or doors damaged by EMAS?
faa.gov: Fact Sheet – Engineered Material Arresting System (EMAS)