In the Spotlight

Dr. Dan Offenbacker and a team of support contractors collected pavement samples from repaved taxiways and decommissioned an FAA data collection system installed in 2018 at Boston Logan International Airport (BOS). The decommissioned system had provided sensor data on asphalt overlays that led to improved design requirements for asphalt overlay thickness.

Murphy Flynn | ANG-E262

Prototype Airfield Assessment Device The Airport Pavement R&D Section hosted a team of engineers under contract with the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) this week to conduct tests on a prototype airfield assessment tool. The tool is intended to be rapidly deployable and easily shipped around the world to assist engineers in strength assessment of runways used by the military. ERDC needed the ability to provide controlled, repeatable loading of a known runway pavement construction and very controlled aircraft loading adjacent to their device. The National Airport Pavement Test Facility provided the full-scale aircraft loading on the centerline of the existing asphalt pavement. The ERDC team performed tests over three days and were able to validate the device performs as designed.

Murphy Flynn | ANG-E262

An FAA and contractor team decommissioned a solar lighting fixture array at Casa Grande Municipal Airport (CGZ), one of four airports participating in a long-term FAA research effort on solar airfield lighting performance. Data collected on luminance duration, battery discharge, solar charging, and battery longevity is being used to develop an Office of Airports Engineering Brief on airport solar lighting.

Nick Subbotin | ANG-E261

Bill Perkins and Sean Van Dongen from the Airport Emerging Technologies section of the Airport Technology R&D Branch attended a training course on June 2-3, 2026, for a new Counter-UAS mitigation technology that the Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS) acquired. Their participation is part of an ongoing federal partnership between the FAA and FAMS that ultimately contributes to the FAA Office of Airports' mission of providing oversight of a safe national airport system to satisfy the aviation needs of the United States.

Sean D. Van Dongen | ANG-E263

The FAA and Electra.aero Inc. entered into a multi-year Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) on May 14, 2026, to exchange aircraft performance data and conduct joint research on the integration of Electra’s ultra short/short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft into the National Airspace System. Research might include NAS concerns, such as Airspace and Air Traffic Management, Infrastructure, Environment, Energy, and Safety, including, but not limited to, relations to Vertiports, Noise, and Visual Flight Rules (VFR) flight. In addition, research involving mid-term and mature-term areas, such as Autonomy, extensible traffic management (xTM), and Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) flight could also be pursued. Ryan King from the Airport Emerging Technologies section (ANG-E263) is the principal investigator (PI) and has been working closely with Electra's technology development team to establish a phased set of initial research experiments related to vertical flight infrastructure. Phase 1 is expected to begin in summer 2026 with initial flight testing with the EL2 aircraft to quantify takeoff distance, landing/stopping distance, and lateral dispersions at the point of touchdown across a variety of environmental conditions and flight configurations. Phase 2 will build upon the results of Phase 1 and is anticipated to occur in more complex operational airport environments. Phase 3 is designed to conduct additional testing with Electra's larger, 10-seat aircraft (EL9). The expected outputs of these initial experiments will include guidance for the sizing, location, and marking of landing/takeoff areas for Ultra Short/STOL operations. Additional expected topics may include guidance on approach and takeoff gradients/slopes, touchdown and lift-off speeds, and flight pattern definition.

Ryan King | ANG-E263