Durbin Makes Commitment to Improving Safety at Midway Airport

Statement

Durbin Makes Commitment to Improving Safety at Midway Airport

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) made the following statement today after the release of a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report on their investigation of Midway Airport. The NTSB opened an investigation of a December 2005 incident in which a plane rolled off the runway at Midway Airport and onto a nearby road killing a 6 year old boy.

"Today's NTSB report makes it clear that the EMAS technology the Illinois Congressional Delegation worked to install in 2006 was a much needed improvement to Midway's runway and could have helped prevent future accidents like the one that ended in the tragic death of Joshua Woods.

"I commend the NTSB for their thorough investigation and for issuing this report. Since the crash, Midway has made significant safety improvements in and around the airport, but there is more to be done. I will continue to work with members of the Illinois Congressional Delegation and the Federal Aviation Administration to see that the City of Chicago has the funding it needs to make runways at Midway some of the safest in America."

On June 6, 2006 Senator Durbin announced that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) awarded a $15 million grant to Chicago Midway International Airport for the improvement of runway safety. Durbin has urged the FAA and Midway to improve runway safety by installing a type of soft concrete known as Engineered Materials Arresting System (EMAS). EMAS is a mixture of water, foam and concrete that crushes in a controlled manner under the weight of an aircraft and gradually stops its forward momentum. This safety improvement is a key component of the recommendations listed in today's NTSB report.

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