Special vehicles that keep Changi’s 360,000 flights flying
Keeping our runways safe and clean, day and night
For an airport that sees a flight landing or taking off every 90 seconds, safe and clean runways are paramount at Changi. Unknown to many, the airport has a fleet of specialized airside machines and vehicles with unique functions that are being deployed to maintain the safety and cleanliness on the two busy runways.
Changi Journeys offers you an exclusive look at four of these important machines that play a pivotal role in ensuring safe and smooth runway operations at Changi Airport.
The Rubber Removal Machine
The frequent plane landings and take-offs at Changi leaves a considerable amount of rubber deposits on the runways. If unattended to, these rubber deposits from the plane tyres will build up on the runway over time, effectively reducing runway friction, and endangering the safety of other planes during landing.
Enter the Rubber Removal vehicle – a mammoth yellow six-wheeler that looks almost like a Transformers vehicle, but works diligently to remove rubber deposits on the runway.
The Rubber Removal machine is perhaps the strangest looking of all the airside vehicles, with two ‘wheels’ extended at its front end. Sporting high pressure jet nozzles on the underside of each ‘wheel’, these nozzles blast pressurized jets of water onto the runway’s surface to dislodge the rubber deposits.
High pressure jet nozzles on the underside of each ‘wheel’ dislodge rubber deposits on the runway, so that they can be removed easily
The ‘wheels’ of the Rubber Removal machine in action
The loosened rubber deposits are then sucked up to the waste tank of the humongous Rubber Removal machine – the runway is cleaned as simple as that!
The Runway Sweeper
This behemoth looks nothing like the domestic vacuum cleaner in your home but operates the same way – except of course it is way more powerful.
The vehicle’s yellow sweeper brush is powerful enough to sweep objects as big as golf balls underneath it before the suction hood behind the brush vacuums up everything.
The round, yellow brush sweeps everything up from the runway while the suction hood vacuums it into the Runway Sweeper
In addition, the runway sweeper is also capable of removing any foreign metal objects. Able to pick up metal objects as tiny as a small bolt, the magnetic bar mounted horizontally on its front is designed to pick up and remove any metal items on the runway.
The Friction Tester
At first glance, the friction tester may look like another regular car, but do not be fooled! The best way to identify a friction tester is by its built-in water tank.
Speeding up to 95km/h on the runway, the friction tester applies a thin film of water from its water tank onto the surface as it zooms down the runway.
A monitor in the friction tester can tell if the runway has sufficient surface friction, which is essential for a safe and successful landing or take-off.
The Airside Safety Rover
Small as they may be, birds such as swiftlets can be a threat to even the largest planes on the runways, especially during taking-off and landing. As such, wildlife management is a very important aspect of airside management duties.
This is where the Airside Safety Rover and the Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD), designed to broadcast sounds to disperse birds safely to prevent them from hindering runway operations - steps in.
With a Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) mounted onto the Rover, the vehicle essentially becomes a mobile loudspeaker, and can effectively scare off birds of any size, from swiftlets to eagles, as far away as 500m.
Using the LRAD control unit, different sounds such as predator calls and gunshots can be broadcasted to stop birds from venturing near the runways.
The Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD), mounted on the back of an Airside Safety Rover, is capable of broadcasting sounds as far away as 500m
A variety of sound effects such as predator calls and gunshots are programmed in the Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) control unit
The team selects different sounds – such as the screeching cries of crows or barking dogs – when they are tasked to disperse the birds. A variation of the sounds is used to ensure that the birds do not get used to hearing them over time.
Such wildlife management patrols are conducted twice daily, once in the morning and once in the late afternoon, but can be quickly ramped up depending on the wildlife activity trend and the migratory season.
With this formidable quartet - the rubber removal machine, runway sweeper, friction tester and airside safety rovers, these vehicles form the essential backbone of the team keeping Changi Airport’s runways safe and clean!
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