Evaluation of Midpoint Runway Marking for General Aviation Airports

The aviation industry continues to experience landing overruns at general aviation airports due in part to pilots touching down beyond the midpoint of the available runway. In some landing overruns, pilots were unaware that the midpoint was reached and nonetheless continued the landing instead of implementing a go-around/aborted landing procedure. Incident reports confirmed that forced landings were coupled with frequent overruns. Over the years airport operators and pilots have occasionally reported that knowing the location of the midpoint of runways would help them to minimize such accidents. There is a greater tendency for landing overruns at airports that primarily serve general aviation operations with runway lengths less than 4,200 ft in length and being utilized by student pilots and those pilots that primarily fly on the weekends only. In order to identify potential markings that could assist in mitigating this risk, the research team evaluated the design for and potential benefits of a marking placed at or near the midpoint of a general aviation runway that would inform pilots of the potential for an overrun/overshoot on a landing. The research team evaluated several preliminary prototype midpoint runway markings using stakeholder input and an online survey of pilots. The best performing marking was further evaluated in an aviation training device study and in field evaluations at six airports. The study results found that the numeric 1/2 located to the left of the runway centerline provided pilots with useful information on the remaining length of runway.