Westport Aerodrome, - possible relocation

[baronbeeza]

The Buller District Council is considering the future of the airport at Westport.

It is near the mouth of the Buller River and also runs parallel with the coastline.

At the moment it is served by a Sounds Air PC-12 and has a small number of light aircraft movements each day.

I don't see the sea level as being an immediate problem but the long sloping beach has brought drift wood up to the perimeter fence during storm events.

The question is what do we expect the smaller regional aircraft of the future to look like and what will be their needs ?

Are we looking at electric, VTOL, STOL or can we expect more of the same for the next 20, 30 or even 50 years ?

We have a generation of people that can tell us what the sea levels will be like in 50 years time but they may have no idea of what technology will be delivering us.

Will we still have a need for 1200 metre runways in 2050 or 2070 ?

[madmac]

I would expect a reduction in excess thrust on any new airframes with non hydrocarbon fuels, so longer than existing is likely. Noting the recent articles on the effects of the alpine fault going, the ability to supply the local towns with airfreight for 6 months or so, might be more critical.

[baronbeeza]

Thanks for the comment. I was in Westport for the 1968 earthquake and in Hornby for the Feb 2011 quake.
You have got me thinking. In both cases there was a big difference in damage between parts of town. In Christchurch most of the damage was East of the railway line.
The 'softer' terrain suffered worse. In Hornby the quake was noticeably different, I was on an old gravel river bed and what I saw and felt during the shaking was nothing like in town.

The Westport aerodrome is not well placed as far as earthquakes go. It is on sand and I expect the sealed runway will just fold into a series of humps. It is also on the wrong side of the Buller River. The bridge is however relatively new and has been designed with earthquake considerations.

I don't see rising sea levels being any short term threat. The local geography has had the Carter's Beach area growing in size and that seems set to continue.
The river however may prove to be more of a threat.
Neither would be an immediate concern as both threats are likely to be a drawn out affair.

What remains after a good earthquake would be more telling.

A runway is only used to transition an aircraft from ground mode to flight mode and vice versa.
We have helicopters, drones, VTOL and STOL already and I was wondering which way technology was about to take us.
I don't see trains being any part of the future, that is last century stuff.

It is difficult to look into the future but I am guessing transport will be revolutionised.
Just how I am not so sure.

I believe buses, trains and aeroplanes will be replaced by some very effective and efficient mass transport system.
I just can't visualise what it could be. It would have to be something out of science fiction or similarly fanciful for us to comprehend now.

Some form of 20 to 30 seat capsule that just levitates and goes.

[nuuumannn]

May 25, 2022 22:55:23 GMT 12 baronbeeza said:

It is difficult to look into the future but I am guessing transport will be revolutionised.
Just how I am not so sure.

Interesting musings, Baron and I agree with you on these things. I suspect that aviation will do what it does under the circumstances. The changes come not in a revolutionary fashion, but in evolutionary steps through gradual advances in technology. The airline industry is notoriously shy of excessive innovation and adapts technology incrementally. While much has changed, a whole lot hasn't, just the way those things are now done compared to how they were done. Essentially, airliner design hasn't moved beyond the 707 and DC-8, just what the current ones are capable of by comparison. Efficiencies have changed rather than concepts.

In terms of the environmental approach to aviation, CORSIA and the Paris Agreement means serious business to airlines and although it doesn't appear much is changing, airlines are at least taking note and investigating options, which is something. They have to prove to the public they are doing something about reducing emissions. There is a lot of pressure on them to do so and all the world's biggest airlines are advertising on their websites about their environmental credentials.

As for aircraft, I imagine that the next generation of feeder liners won't look much different to the Caravan or PC-12 of today, just that their engines and fuel sources might be different, but even then, that's still a very long way off, despite the odd conversion to electric power. As you're probably aware, converting existing aircraft to electric has disadvantages in terms of landing weights. Current aircraft are designed to be lighter on landing, so things need to be redesigned in electric aircraft...

I can see the likes of biofuels becoming more prevalent as the next big change, before purely electric powerplants. Battery technology needs to be better than what it is to match what existing aircraft can produce performance wise. The airline industry is based on profit, nothing less than improvement beyond the status quo is expected. Compromising capability is not an option.

Anyway, how all this affects airports is in embedded infrastructure, the development of biofuels has a long way to go to be universal, although Oslo Gardermoen is the world's first airport to offer biofuels to visiting airlines.