Piarco runway is not South Trunk Road

THE EDITOR: It should come as no surprise to anyone that the US Federal Aviation Agency is highly critical of the repaving job that was carried out on the Piarco International Airport runway recently, at a reported cost of $27 million. In a letter to your newspaper dated December 6, 2002 which was published shortly after, I made reference to two previous paving exercises that were carried out at Piarco around the 1960s, both of which were of inferior quality and concept and both of which had failed. I will quote the final paragraph of that letter for the benefit of your readers who may not have seen it or have forgotten it with the passage of time.

“Let us sincerely hope that in the interest of the safety of the aircraft that will be required to use the repaved runway and the lives of the passengers that will be on them that the contractors who will be entrusted with this repaving exercise, will be well equipped with the necessary knowledge, experience and expertise to carry out the job with the utmost precision and quality of material and workmanship and in accordance with the strictest engineering procedure.” When one considers the severity of the impact made by a fully loaded large modern day commercial jet aircraft landing at speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour, with multiple non-rotating wheels supporting tons of metal, passengers, cargo and fuel, one will surely have some idea of what a runway surface and foundation is subjected to every time an aircraft lands.

It is not only the safety of the multi-million dollar aircraft that is at risk but the hundreds of lives involved. In my personal opinion, jobs of this type that may involve the ultimate loss of hundreds of lives and millions of dollars in equipment, should be only awarded to internationally highly recognised firms with vast experience in that particular type of work and highly recommended by previous satisfied agencies. Let us face it, Piarco runway is not a section of the South Trunk Road or the Solomon Hochoy Highway, sections of which have been subjected to substandard repair work.

MARTIN KAVANAGH
La Romaine