Heathrow airport improves safety
[13th June 2008]
Heathrow airport has installed a new radar system on its southern runway to improve safety at the world’s busiest airport.
The Tarsier radar from QinetiQ scans the 3,658 metre runway at Heathrow for debris that could be sucked into aircraft engines or damage aircraft systems.
The radar can detect small objects to within 3 metres anywhere on the runway, including metal, plastic, glass, wood and organic matter.
"Safety is our top priority. Tarsier is a proven technological solution to the problem of FOD (foreign objects and debris) and will assist our operations team in carrying out regular visual runway inspections by acting as an additional pair of eyes,” explains Heathrow airport airside operations director, Colin Wood.
"Tarsier also has the additional benefit of enabling Heathrow to deliver an improved service to the 68 million passengers who use the airport each year, by minimising delays caused by FOD," Wood adds.
BAA is keen to minimise delays at Heathrow, where the two runways operate at 99% capacity and any interruption can cause significant delays to flights.
"We are delighted that Tarsier is playing an important role in maximising capacity and easing congestion at Heathrow that handles close to half a million aircraft movements each year,” says QinetiQ Airport Technologies MD, Phil McLachlan.
Tarsier has been operating at Vancouver International airport since January 2007, and is also in use at Dubai International airport and Providence Rhode Island airport.
BAA also plans to install the new radar system on Heathrow’s north runway, while Doha International airport is another recent customer.
Written by: Nick Purdom
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