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Deployable Instrument Landing System coming to Shaw

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Kaitlyn Brewer
  • 20th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. --  Team Shaw contractors broke ground on a runway renovation project to replace aircraft arresting cables with MB-100 textile brake system, aircraft arresting barriers; to be followed up by an Instrument Landing System construction, scheduled Oct. 1.

The current arresting cables span the runway surface and are engaged by the aircraft arresting gear hook. The new aircraft arresting barriers are net devices which stop an aircraft by absorbing its forward momentum in a landing overrun.

Shaw will be the first base to reconstruct a runway in order to install this deployable ILS, a brand new system for the Air Force.

“An ILS helps pilots land with reduced runway visibility, a radio-navigation system, that guides the aircraft, both vertically and horizontally to be aligned with the runway and helps aircraft land safely,” said Wayne Hanson, Headquarters Air Force Flight Standards Agency flight safety surveyor. “Ultimately it should enhance the capabilities of the runway system and allow pilots to fly and land in almost any kind of weather.”

Master Sgt. Candice Wegehaupt, 20th Operations Support Squadron deputy airfield manager, said the deployable ILS will create new opportunities for Shaw aviators by allowing them to land much safer in less than optimal weather conditions.

Wegehaupt continued to say that although flight operations are altered, 20th Fighter Wing pilots will not have to divert elsewhere during construction.

“The installation of the deployable ILS has never been done before,” said Wegehaupt. “This equipment guides in planes when they land, so if we can do this we will be removing so many obstacles and upgrading the airfield for a smoother, more efficient system.”