Навчально-методичний комплект Students’ Book
Авіаційна англійська мова
Reading
Read the text. Consult the dictionary if it’s necessary.
Airport design
An airport is a place where aircraft such as airplanes and helicopters can take off and land. An airport minimally consists of one runway or helipad (for helicopters), but other common components are hangars and terminal buildings.
Additionally, an airport may have a variety of facilities and infrastructure. Airport services related to the aircraft are frequently referred to as airside. Many of these services are concentrated on the apron, or ramp, which is that part of the operational surface adjacent to the terminals where aircraft are manoeuvered or parked. They include the apron handling of aircraft, airside passenger transfer to the aircraft, the handling of baggage and cargo, aircraft fueling, catering and cabin cleaning, engine starting, deicing, ground power and air-conditioning, and minor maintenance engineering. Other airside services are runway inspection, lighting and navigational aids, fire fighting and rescue, airside maintenance, and air traffic control (airport traffic control, air route traffic control, radio communication and weather service observation forecasting). Among the landside services are those related to ground passenger handling; these include check-in, security, customs and immigration, baggage delivery, information, catering, cleaning and maintenance, shops and concessionary facilities, automobile rental, ground transportation, porters, special help for the elderly and handicapped, automobile parking, and public transportation (including taxis). The airport also offers a hotel, a post office, bank offices, restaurants, snack bars and waiting lounges.
Passengers can make a long distance call, exchange currency, buy souvenirs and other goods at the duty-free shops. Physical facilities include runways, taxiways, aprons, and strips, which are used for the landing and take-off of aircraft, for the manoeuvering and positioning of aircraft on the ground, and for the parking of aircraft in order to embark and disembark passengers and cargo. Landside facilities are the passenger and cargo terminals and the access system, which includes parking, roads, public transport facilities, and loading and unloading areas.
Any international airport has two halls: arrival and departure, customs inspection, passport and health control.
The airport terminal building is designed to facilitate safe and economic transfer of passengers and cargo between aircraft and ground transport.
The terminal building extensions have the form of pier fingers or satellites.
Satellites are small buildings located on the apron. They are connected to the main terminal building by tunnels. Gates are installed at 360 degrees around the satellite building.
The landing area or flying field includes the runway or runways and taxiways. The principal element of the landing area is the runway. The runway is designed for aircraft taking-off and landing. To provide safe landings of aircraft there are terminal safety lines at both ends of the runway and side safety lines all along it.
One of the most important sides of the airport work is the actual provision of building and hangars to house the airplanes and necessary equipment. They have to be carefully and properly designed for this job. Steel and concrete are used for new flight hangars today. The layout and number of the hangar designs depend largely on the use, type and dimensions (length, width and thickness) of the machines.
Weather conditions have an effect on airport capacity as well. The capacity of an airport during poor visibility conditions is usually less than in good visibility conditions. Besides, the number and types of navigation aids available to pilots and controllers influence airport capacity. The development of computers helps controllers in processing aircraft at a more rapid rate.
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