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Old March 16th 17, 10:26 PM posted to rec.aviation.soaring
Bruce Hoult
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Default Will circular runways ever take off?

On Thursday, March 16, 2017 at 9:18:32 PM UTC+3, wrote:
I saw this story and it reminded me, has anyone ever tried landing on a curved flat road or something similar to a circular runway?

I supposed the banked sides of this concept help.

BBC story "Will circular runways ever take off?"
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-39284294

http://www.endlessrunway-project.eu/project/index.php

SAE paper Flight Operations on a Circular Runway
http://papers.sae.org/660283/
Abstract:
Inherent advantages of an infinitely long runway, optimum technical location at the center of the circle, and safety enhancement by increased directional stability during aircraft ground roll generated interest in the circular runway concept. The Bureau of Naval Weapons originated a project to determine, within the realm of aircraft behavior, the feasibility of flight operations from a circular runway.Utilizing an existing circular track at the General Motors Proving Ground near Mesa, Arizona, tests were conducted with a T28, an A1-E, an A4-B, and a C54. It was determined that pilots readily adapt to operations from a circular runway, that aircraft lateral and directional stability is more positive than on a flat runway, that tangential approaches are no more difficult than approaches to a straight runway, and that low visibility approaches are much simpler than to a straight runway. Flight operations from a circular runway are feasible.


It's a interesting idea. Would be a very nice solution if a heavily loaded aircraft could do one or two circuits if necessary before lifting off. Helicopters sometimes do this in ground effect inside the boundaries of a field or clearing to get sufficient sped to climb away.

But 3.5 km diameter!! 2400 acres (970 ha) inside the centre line! That's huge. Only the world's biggest airports have a runway longer than 3.5 km, and very few would have runways that long in different directions.

Maybe you could do this to increase the capacity of LAX or LHR or Kingsford Smith, but for most cities it's a vast increase in the area of an airport, and decrease in the flexibility of siting it around hills or suburbs or bodies of water.

2 km diameter or less and you might be talking -- that's exactly half a G lateral acceleration at 250 km/h (1.12 G total loading)