why ast?
Paving the
way in runway uptime
"We're lighting up airports and airlines across North America with our braking action reports, AI-powered friction forecasts, and hard-brake landing reports. Airports are using AST science to assess, treat, and optimize their runways for maximum availability. Runways can stay open longer and be brought online faster."
about JOE
Joe Vickers is the CEO of Aviation Safety Technologies (AST). He has held leadership positions at several airlines – including Managing Director at the United Airlines Operations Control Center – as well as in the air as a licensed pilot. Recently, Joe sat down to discuss the evolution of AST from the world's leading provider of FAA-recommended Aircraft Braking Action Reports (ABARs) to the world's leading innovator in helping airports improve runway uptime and operations.
Q: AST is helping airports across North America improve how they react to weather and other contaminants that impact the performance and availability of their runways. What have you learned?
Joe: Runway management – keeping runways clean, open, and operating at peak efficiency – is an enormous and expensive challenge, especially in geographic areas with inclement weather patterns. But it isn't just rain, snow, or ice. Rubber, oil, and other contaminants also pose serious threats to runway performance and the level of braking friction available to incoming aircraft. Airports need to know – are my runways performing at their best? Are there measurable reductions in the grip between aircraft tires and a contaminated or degraded runway? When, where, and why? What is the risk to my operation or to the safety of the next landing? AST's technology provides airports with granular, precise, science-driven insight about runway conditions and available braking friction – insight that was previously unobtainable. Leveraging this insight, airports can optimize their runway maintenance strategies for maximum uptime, safety, and cost-benefit. Airports gain benefits in three core areas using AST: operational efficiency, cost containment, and landing safety.
Q: How big a role does AI play in your ABARnet™ service offering?
Joe: In its Advisory Circular AC 91-79B, the FAA recommends that airlines and airports investigate data-based reports – what are called Aircraft Braking Action Reports (ABARs) by ASTM International – as a means to help improve landing safety and mitigate runway excursions. To quote the FAA, "ABAR systems provide the highest level of accuracy and precision."
ASTM standards mandate that ABAR reports demonstrate both accuracy and repeatability through a rigorous validation process defined by ASTM. Unlike conventional methods for reporting friction and deceleration, ABARs apply a validated methodology to accurately capture all forces influencing deceleration—including aerodynamic drag, flight control device settings, reverse thrust, weight transfer, aircraft weight, runway slope, and other critical factors. These forces are then mapped to a standardized scale applicable across all aircraft.
AST's ABAR reports are far superior to the imprecise, intuitive pilot assessments of landings that, until now, have been a limited source of information for approaching aircraft. The FAA and Transport Canada have joined a list of regulators who recognize the superior precision and accuracy of an objective, data-driven approach to mitigating runway excursions. AST technology is ready and the FAA wants airports and airlines to embrace it.
Q: What about the pilots?
Joe: Pilots want data, not guesswork. They know better than anyone that subjective assessments about levels of braking performance – essentially, “I think the braking friction was good, poor, nil” – are helpful but imprecise, based on each pilot’s personal interpretation.
Let’s say you’re a pilot on approach. The runway is contaminated with water, snow, or ice. "What did the pilot who just landed experience – what was the actual braking friction available – and exactly what can I expect when my tires touch the runway?" Pilots want the scientific insight that AST delivers.
AST's Friction Forecasting service is of particular interest to the pilot community. When airports can accurately forecast how incoming weather will affect available braking friction 30, 60, and 90 minutes out, airport crews can take proactive steps to prepare for what's to come. For incoming pilots, that means the best possible runway surfaces when their wheels touch down.
Q: Everyone worries about airside events or even the occasional runway excursion – how prevalent are they?
Joe: Airports subscribe to ABARnet primarily to gain operational and cost efficiencies in how they manage their runways. But enhancing landing safety is also extremely important. Let's take runway excursions. Between 2013 and 2022, nearly 25% of commercial aviation accidents were from runway excursions. According to one estimate, these excursions cost the global industry $4 billion in 2019 alone. Human injuries, aircraft hull losses, disruptions to airport operations, lost revenue, lost customer goodwill, lost reputation for both airlines and airports – the impacts are significant. The FAA and NTSB estimate that 10 excursions occur every year in the U.S. Now if AST technology could help prevent even one of those …
Joe: The evolution of efficiency and safety in aviation will never stop, it’s what makes our industry great.
One day, data-based reports like ABARs, Hard-Brake Landings, and Friction Forecasts may be mandated as must-have components in standard operating procedures for both airports and airlines.
The data is there, along with AI, machine learning, and the cloud. Everything that's needed to analyze and distribute ground-breaking insights to stakeholders across the aviation ecosystem.
