Philadelphia airport debuts runway cushion technology to stop runaway planes

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- A federal grant provided more than $8 million for runway cushion safety technology at Philadelphia International Airport.

Engineered Materials Arresting Systems, or EMAS, are now at the end of runway 8-26 at PHL

They are designed help stop an aircraft that overruns the end of the runway.

"Like the airbags in our car, we never want to use them, but we are glad they are there," said Atif Saeed the CEO of City of Philadelphia Department of Aviation.

It looks destructive but the mesh-concrete padding is actually meant to be crushed. It almost encapsulates the plane's landing gear to bring it to a complete stop.

They're manufactured by Runway Safe.

"To date we've had 24 real-world arrestments anywhere from 747s to business jets and they've all been 100% successful," said Trip Thomas of Runway Safe.

One success story was in 2018 at Hollywood Burbank Airport, when a Southwest Airlines plane was stopped by EMAS with little passenger disturbance.

"With the EMAS system that we have, we can satisfy our strict safety standards and build the additional capacity," said FAA Administrator, Bryan Bedford.

The project which got started in September 2024, shut down runway 8-26 for construction. After a flight check, it will reopen, and increase capacity for aircraft take off and landing.