Quote:
Originally Posted by Captain Jim
As a former pilot, landing and taking off into the wind is the preferred choice - and the reason runways are laid out with consideration for the prevailing winds in any given area. With a circular runway, there will always be a "most optimal" arrival/departure area... with increasing sidewind considerations - or worse: tailwind considerations, increasing take-off/landing roll and speeds. Ask any pilot how he/she feels about a tailwind landing.
Landing and take-off are times when straight-line motion is helpful and safer. I see no safety improvement with this premise; in fact, just the opposite.
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To your very valid point, this concern about the wind is raised in the article.
I think it is this kind of out of the box concept discussion that can lead to new developments in technology.
Maybe in the end it isn't a circle but a parallelogram ..... or could be that boeing and bombardier design engineers will be sparked with an idea from this concept.....
i'll be watching with interest, although I imagine non-linear runways won't happen in my lifetime.