A newbie doubt, if it's ok...

"Ramapriya" wrote in message
om...
Is a non-aviator airing a doubt ok with you folks?

Sure.

I know cars and trucks tend to skid even at low speeds in sleet and on
ice, with braking often proving ineffectual. This leaves me wondering
why is it that we don't ever hear of aircraft skidding and going
off-track while taxiing or even during takeoff/landing?

Perhaps you just aren't receiving your information from sources that would
mention such an event.

Is the lack of
such incidents only because of the meticulousness of ice clearance by
airport authorities?

At some airports, yes. Generally, the more important an airport is to the
national transportation system (and all airports are important at least to
some degree), the better quality of maintenance, including keeping the
pavement clear of snow and ice. Some of the largest airports even have
heated runways, I believe.

Even so, once in a very long while, an airliner does wind up skidding off
the runway or taxiway somewhere. I don't know the exact frequency, but
probably on the order of once a decade or so.

At smaller airports, this happens more frequently, but as with cars, it
rarely involves more than some bent sheet metal. Accidents are likely to be
low speed (almost all taxiing happens at relatively low speeds...5-10mph at
most), and those that happen on landing (i.e. at higher speed) often don't
wind up in the news because they happened at the airport, rather than
somewhere that would make for something that sells ads on the evening news
(like a residential neighborhood).

Another factor is that airplanes have more to control them than just the
tires. In particular, the faster the airplane is going, the more likely the
same surfaces used to control the airplane in the air can also be used to
control the airplane on the ground.

Just as a "for example", I landed at the Reno, NV airport once on a VERY hot
day, while flying a small four-seater single-engine airplane. I landed on
the same runway that the big airliners use, and touched down in the same
spot that they do. Well, it turns out that when they touch down, each one
leaves a little rubber. By the time I'd arrive, there was a WHOLE LOT of
rubber, at a very high temperature. It was as slick as any ice, perhaps
slicker.

I had no braking whatsoever. But I didn't lose control of the airplane,
because I still had plenty of rudder control to keep me going in the right
direction. I simply "flew" the airplane while on the ground, until I got to
the pavement that was clear, made a normal stop and taxied off the runway.

This same effect helps prevent takeoff accidents...long before the airplane
leaves the ground, the tires are no longer required to keep the airplane
aligned with the runway. Rudder control is perfectly sufficient, especially
on a runway that is nice and flat.

Of course, all of the things that "cwk" mentions are relevant too. The
bottom line is that it's not actually true that airplanes don't have trouble
with ice, but it IS true that there are reasons those issues come up less
frequently than they might with automobiles.

Pete