Iowa City Airport in the News

George Patterson wrote:
Jose wrote:

And what the heck! Another bonus is that WalMart roofs make a pretty
good
small plane emergency landing place! (WINK-GRIN)



I suspect they wouldn't hold up, but does anybody know for sure?


Roofs in this area of NJ are designed for a snow load of around 30
pounds per square foot. I expect they're stronger in Iowa, but they're
still not designed to hold a typical small plane.

George Patterson
Whosoever bloweth not his own horn, the same shall remain unblown.

If the roof sheating can handle the "point" load of the gear, which many
likely can, the overall weight of the plane won't be a problem for the
underlying structure. I would suspect most commercial buildings would
handle a "normal" touchdown of a typical light plane.

Even at 30 psf, a 10x10 patch of roof will hold 3,000 lbs.


Matt