Arlington Municipal Airport Development Plan Arlington Airport Development Plan | Page 110

SAFETY AREA DESIGN STANDARDS
The FAA has established several imaginary surfaces to protect aircraft operational areas and keep them
free from obstructions. These include the runway safety area (RSA), runway object free area (ROFA),
runway obstacle free zone (ROFZ), and runway protection zone (RPZ).
The entire RSA, ROFA, and ROFZ must be under the
direct ownership of the airport sponsor to ensure
these areas remain free of obstacles and can be
readily accessed by maintenance and emergency
personnel. RPZs should also be under airport owner-
ship. An alternative to outright ownership of the RPZ
is the purchase of avigation easements (acquiring control of designated airspace within the RPZ) or
having sufficient land use control measures in places which ensure the RPZ remains free of incompati-
ble development. The various airport safety areas are presented on Exhibit 3E.
The FAA has established several
imaginary surfaces to protect air-
craft operational areas and keep
them free from obstructions.
Dimensional standards for the various safety areas associated with the runway are a function of the
type of aircraft using or expected to use the runway as well as the instrument approach capability. As
previously identified, the current critical design aircraft is classified as C-II. The future design aircraft
may transition to those in C-III; therefore, the design standards for both conditions are examined. Ta-
ble 3D presents the FAA design standards as they apply to Runway 16-34 at Arlington Municipal Air-
port.
RUNWAY SAFETY AREA
The RSA is defined in FAA AC 150/5300-13A, Airport Design, as a “surface surrounding the runway pre-
pared or suitable for reducing the risk of damage to airplanes in the event of undershoot, overshoot, or
excursion from the runway.” The RSA is centered on the runway and dimensioned in accordance to
the approach speed of the critical design aircraft using the runway. The FAA requires the RSA to be
cleared and graded, drained by grading or storm sewers, capable of accommodating the design aircraft
and fire and rescue vehicles, and free of obstacles not fixed by navigational purpose such as runway
edge lights or approach lights.
The FAA has placed a higher significance on maintaining adequate RSA at all airports. Under Order
5200.8, effective October 1, 1999, the FAA established the Runway Safety Area Program. The Order
states, “The objective of the Runway Safety Area Program is that all RSAs at federally-obligated air-
ports…shall conform to the standards contained in Advisory Circular 150/5300-13, Airport Design, to
the extent practicable.” Each Regional Airports Division of the FAA is obligated to collect and maintain
data on the RSA for each runway at the airport and perform airport inspections.
For RDC C-II design, the FAA calls for the RSA to be 500 feet wide and extend 1,000 feet beyond the
runway ends. Analysis in the previous section indicated that Runway 16-34 should be planned to ac-
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