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I wasn’t able to find any regualtions for unpaved surfaces on FAA. When I search for unpaved surfaces all I’m seeing are regulations for unpaved runways. But what I’m looking for is the regulations for unpaved soil or grass parts of a paved runway.

ayiyogi
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  • Yeah I'm looking if we can use gravel or stone instead of grass and we can use stone what the diameter should be? – ayiyogi Feb 04 '24 at 05:04

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There is not one regulation for all unpaved areas of an airport and there are multiple unpaved areas that are part of a paved runway. A shoulder immediately surrounds the paved area. This area may be used by emergency or snow clearing vehicles as needed.

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Surrounding this is the Runway Safety Area, which is to be graded according to regulation.

The RSA is a defined surface surrounding the runway, typically 500-feet wide and extending 1,000-feet beyond each runway end. It provides a graded area in the event that an aircraft overruns, undershoots or veers off the side of the runway (runway excursion). ref

enter image description here Surrounding this is the Runway Object Free Area, which is unsurprisingly to be free of obstacles.

ROFA is a clear area limited to equipment necessary for air and ground navigation, and provides wingtip protection in the event of an aircraft excursion from the runway.

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This diagram also shows the Runway Protection Zone which is part of the runway but is not immediately adjacent to a runway.

AC 150/5300-13B contains airport design specifications and has details of requirements for these areas.

Pilothead
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  • Thank you for your answeri it was really helpful. I didn't really see which materials we can use for runway safety area surface. I've seen they use stone for paved and unpaved surfaces transition. Can they be using it for shoulder purposes? – ayiyogi Feb 04 '24 at 06:00
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The areas in question are called "islands".

The FAA Adisory Circular - Airport Design (link to pdf) defines the island as

1.5 Definitions.

...

  1. Island. A non-serviceable paved or grassy area bounded by a taxiway, taxilane, or apron pavement.

The FAA advisory circular - Standards for airport markings (link to pdf), defines the island as:

1.2. Definitions. The following definitions apply to terms used in this AC.

...

d. Island. An unused paved or grassy area between taxiways, between runways, or between a taxiway and a runway. Paved islands are clearly marked as unusable, either by painting or the use of artificial turf. For the purposes of this AC, islands are also referred to as “NO-TAXI” islands.

The grass covered parts of airports (amongst pretty much everything else) is discussed at great length in FAA Advisory Circular - Standard Specifications for Construction of Airports, the grass is referenced as "turf" in the document.

Jpe61
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