"Matted" Runways???

[Guest]

Hey gang,I landed about 10 minutes ago on a Seattle-Seoul flight and when I was about 50 miles out I switched to the map view just to see what was around me. So I started clicking on various airports, and when I clicked on Z18K, the screen said for runway type "mats."I had never seen this before, so once I had landed I went to Z18K, and sure enough, it looks like rubber mats laid down in a nice straight line. Has anyone seen this in real life? Is it really a runway made out of rubber mats? What are the advantages/disadvantages of such an application?Happy New Year everyone,

[Guest RonB49]

I have not seen this in FS2002 but I'll surely check it out now. As I understand it, in WWII, landing mat was used extensively to build temporary airfields quickly. The individual mats were corrigated steel perforated with about 1" holes on perhaps 3" centers. I assume that the holes were to reduce the weight.As I recall, each mat was about 15" wide and 8' or 10' long. Two men can carry one easily. One edge has slots and the other edge has tabs. Mats may be placed side-by-side with the tabs of one fitted into the slots of its neighbor to form a runway or parking ramp.I saw it used in the early 60s at KSPI (Springfield IL) as a parking surface around some T-hangers. More recently (mid 90s perhaps), while 4-wheeling, I discovered the rusty remains of a road made of landing mat leading to an abandoned hydocarbons facility on South Padre Island TX. I'll definitly go chek out Z18K. Thanks. R-

[Guest]

The landing mat was known as Pierced Steel Planking - PSP - details from herehttp://www.sml.lr.tudelft.nl/~home/rob/models/psp.htmThe modern equivalents include plastic and rubber matting, and even coconut! They are mainly used to cover taxiways and parking areas in boggy conditions, spreading the load of the parked aircraft. I dont think they are licensed as runway material in most of the west, but elsewhere in the world anything goes I guess.Chas

[Guest SlimDady]

Sounded cool so i had to check it out.. Here is a pic so you all can see

[Guest]

This is pretty cool! Thanks to Chas and Ron for the details. Very interesting.By the way, SlimDady, what is that plane in your picture? Is it that Italian bird that came out a few weeks ago? It looks quite nice.Thanks guys!

[woodreau 0]

The Marine Corps maintains a capability to build an expeditionary airfield capable of landing C-130's/AV-8s with each one of it's deployed MEU(SOC)'s. They can clear out a field and put down "momat" basically an aluminum runway within 48-72 hours.So if they can't take an airfield, they just make one.Cheers :)