What is the management of China’s civil aviation airports (airports)?

The general name of the site and related buildings and facilities for aircraft to take off, land, taxi, and park. It is also called an airport. Airports can be divided into two categories: one is impact, and will also affect their respective development. If it is too far, it will be inconvenient to use, and it will increase regular ground transportation costs and ground driving time. It is generally believed that airports, especially those with a large volume of passenger and cargo transportation, must have fast and convenient ground transportation between the cities they long for, and the driving time should not exceed 30 or 40 minutes. The location of the airport and the direction of the runway should prevent aircraft from passing over the city when taking off and landing. Since there are many factors that affect the airport site, the decision must be made after comprehensive research based on the specific situation.

In order to ensure flight safety and improve airport usage efficiency, the national competent authorities have issued basic systems for the management of civil airports.

The State Council stipulates that civil airports across the country are under the centralized management of the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

1. Airport construction application system

For new airports built by local provincial people's governments, state agencies, ministries, commissions and bureaus, in addition to applying for capital construction procedures issued by the state, they must also The provincial people's government or relevant ministries, commissions and bureaus shall consult with the Civil Aviation Administration and other departments in advance and obtain consensus before submitting it to the State Council and the Central Military Commission for approval.

2. Airport management system

(1) The Civil Aviation Administration of China implements a license management system for airports. The airport applying for a use license must meet the corresponding conditions and be issued after review by the Civil Aviation Administration. The Civil Aviation Administration of China implements classified management of airports: Category 1 airports are under the centralized management of the Civil Aviation Administration; Category 1, 2, and 3 airports are all managed by the Civil Aviation Regional Administration.

(2) Civil airports constructed by local governments and departments in accordance with relevant regulations and special airports for aircraft manufacturing plants, and these airports are used to operate domestic feeder passenger and cargo transportation or general aviation services, may be reported to the local government or departments. After passing the review by the Civil Aviation Administration of China, an airport management organization will be established to accept the industry management of the Civil Aviation Administration and the Civil Aviation Regional Administration. Supervision and inspection.

(3) Airports jointly used by military and civilians can be managed by zones according to the needs and actual conditions of both parties according to the agreement.

(4) In order to coordinate the work of relevant departments within the airport and ensure the safety and normality of air transportation, all civil airports have established an airport management committee, which is the authority for unified management of the airport where it is located. The management committee is composed of the heads of the local people's government and relevant airport units. Daily work is handled by the office of the director of civil aviation.

In order to ensure the safety of civil aviation aircraft taking off and landing, there are certain technical requirements for airport runways, and the International Civil Aviation Organization has clear requirements for this. Airport pavement load refers to the load that the airport pavement can carry. Airport pavements are artificial structures paved with road construction materials. It provides aircraft with a surface that is strong, flat, rough, and safe for takeoff, landing, taxiing, and parking in all weather conditions. The load of the airport runway pavement is calculated based on the maximum takeoff weight of the aircraft used in the airport. The pavement in other different parts must be adjusted separately according to their functions. For example, aprons, main taxiways, etc. must consider the conditions of withstanding large traffic density and high stress caused by the slow sliding and stopping of aircraft; the apron of stationed aircraft generally only considers the dead weight of the aircraft.

The weight of the aircraft is transferred to the road surface by the aircraft's landing gear. The wheels of aircraft landing gear can be arranged in different ways such as single wheel, double wheel, four wheel trolley, etc. Together with conditions such as the contact area between the tire and the road surface under pressure, the internal pressure of the tire and the distance between the tires, it is the basis for calculating the road surface strength. The Boeing 747 wide-body long-range passenger aircraft has a total take-off weight of 300 to 400 tons, but because it has four sets of four-wheel trolley-type main landing gear, it has 16 tires to bear the load. If the unit pressure on the surface, or the strength requirements for the road surface, is compared with the road surface strength required by a medium-range aircraft with a total weight of only 60 to 70 tons and only two sets of two-wheel main landing gear, the difference between the two is limited. . It can be seen that the characteristics of the aircraft landing gear are closely related to the required road surface strength of the aircraft. You should pay attention to this issue when purchasing an aircraft. If the selected aircraft model cannot adapt to the pavement strength of most existing domestic airports, it will inevitably lead to a large amount of investment in rebuilding existing airport pavements. Relatively speaking, the scope of use of this type of aircraft will be limited. .

In 1981, ICAO proposed in Annex 14 of the Convention that airports open to the public in each member state should report their pavements using the Aircraft Class Number - Pavement Class Number Method (ACN-PCN) strength. ACN represents the relative impact number of an aircraft on a pavement with specified standard foundation strength, which is determined by the aircraft manufacturer based on the characteristics of its aircraft. PCN represents the serial number of the bearing strength of the pavement with unlimited operating times, and represents the load characteristics of the local airport pavement. When the aircraft's ACN is equal to or less than the PCN of the pavement, it indicates that the aircraft can operate on the pavement without restrictions. In order to facilitate work, some airport work manuals have calculated the ACN values ??of some currently widely used aircraft models on rigid and flexible pavements based on four types of standard foundations. The list can be found.

By comparing the AOq value listed in the table with the PCN of the local airport, you can know whether the aircraft type can operate at the local airport.

Overloading will shorten the life of the pavement, and excessive overloading will cause damage to the pavement. But as an expedient, accidental, small amount of overloading, it is generally OK. It is recommended to adopt the following guidelines:

(1) For flexible pavements, ACN should not exceed 10% of PCN;

(2) For rigid pavements, ACN should not exceed 5% of PCN , and it is an occasional operation;

(3) If the pavement structure is not known, a 5% limit should be adopted, and the number of annual overload operations should not exceed 5% of the total annual number of operations.

Before 1973, the airport operating minimum standards used by most countries only considered weather factors, namely cloud height and visibility, so they were called "airport weather minimum standards". However, since the cloud base height is usually irregular and rarely reported at the most critical position of the runway population; the visibility is not the maximum distance at which the driver can clearly see the ground markings along the runway when entering the landing. In March 1973, ICAO decided to replace the "Airport Weather Minimum Standards" with "Airport Operational Minimums", and replaced the customarily used runway visual range (RVR) with the runway visual range (RVR) automatically measured by the atmospheric transmittance instrument installed on the side of the runway. visibility. In addition to stipulating cloud height and runway visual range, the "Airport Operation Minimum Standards" also adds a minimum descent height or decision height. Runway visual range is the distance at which the driver can clearly see runway markings or lights on the runway center line. The minimum descent altitude is the minimum altitude at which an aircraft is allowed to descend during an instrument approach without glide guidance. It is determined based on the height of the highest obstacle in the final approach area and missed approach area, the necessary margin for overcoming the obstacle and other safety factors. of. Only when the pilot can see the approach lights, runway population or other signs that can identify the runway population and the aircraft is in a position for normal visual landing, is it allowed to continue descending below the minimum descent height, otherwise the specified minimum descent should be maintained Start the missed approach as high as the missed approach point. Decision height is the minimum altitude limit for deciding to continue descending or immediately go around during an instrument approach using glide guidance. It is determined based on the height of obstacles, the altitude loss of the aircraft during the go-around and other safety factors. Therefore, the minimum descent altitude and decision height are the minimum safe altitudes to prevent the aircraft from colliding with obstacles around the airport during an instrument approach using different navigation facilities, and are not weather factors.

Airport operating minimum standards are divided into landing minimum standards and take-off minimum standards.

Landing minimum standards are divided into two categories: non-precision approach and precision approach according to the navigation facilities used. Instrument approaches using all-directional beacons (VOR), non-directional beacons (N-DB) and other non-gliding guidance are non-precision approaches. Non-precision approach and landing minimums include two factors: minimum descent height and runway visual range (or visibility). An instrument approach (with glide guidance) using an instrument landing system (ILS) or precision approach radar (PAR) is a precision approach. The minimum standards for precision approach and landing include two factors: decision height and runway visual range, whose values ??are determined by Run the classification.

Category I (Cat I) operations: The minimum standard decision height for precision approach and landing is not less than 60 meters, the visibility is not less than 800 meters or the runway visual range is not less than 550 meters.

Category II (Cat II) operations: the minimum standard decision height for precision approach and landing is less than 60 meters, but not less than 30 meters; the runway visual range is not less than 350 meters.

Category IIIA (Cat IIIA) operations: the minimum standard decision height for precision approach and landing is less than 30 meters, or there is no decision height; the runway visual range is not less than 200 meters.

Category IIIB (Cat IIIB) operations: the minimum standard decision height for precision approach and landing is less than 15 meters, or there is no decision height; the runway visual range is less than: 200 meters but not less than 50 meters.

Category IIIC (Cat IIIC) operations: precision approach and landing minima, no decision height and no runway visual range restrictions.

In addition, the establishment of instrument approach procedures and landing minima for a navigation facility should be based on the aircraft classification (according to the aircraft's maximum allowable landing weight and 1.3 times the stall speed in the landing state). Categories A, B, C, D and E) respectively specify the values ??of decision height or minimum descent height, runway visual range or visibility.

Takeoff minimums are usually expressed in terms of visibility only, but when it is necessary to see and avoid obstacles during takeoff, a cloud height should be added to the takeoff minimums, or to meet the safety requirements for flying over obstacles. A minimum net ascending gradient. In addition, the takeoff minimums at an airport should not be lower than the minimum standards for landing at that airport when the aircraft's most critical engine fails, unless the departure airport has an applicable alternate airport, and the alternate airport should have a suitable alternative airport for engine failure. Weather conditions and ground facilities for aircraft landing.

Airport operating minimum standards are the minimum safety guarantees for the most critical positions of aircraft takeoff and landing. Therefore, each country has legal regulations on how to implement the minimum standards, and the International Civil Aviation Organization has also issued a unified Specification, which provides reliable evidence for setting minimum standards for designing instrument approach procedures.

Effective environmental protection must be carried out around the airport so that the environment around the airport is conducive to the flight of aircraft without damaging its ecological environment. The noise generated by the engine when the aircraft is running is the main problem of environmental pollution at the airport.

In 1971, ICAO adopted a document entitled "Aircraft Noise Standards and Recommended Practices", proposing methods and maximum allowable noise assessment methods for civil air transport aircraft. Airports that exceed the limit must take effective measures to regularly reduce the impact of noise (such as implementing curfews); aircraft manufacturers must also perform technical treatment on aircraft engines according to the limit, otherwise they will not be able to operate such aircraft or engines. Certificate of conformity. Since then, the noise pollution problem has been gradually alleviated.

China's State Environmental Protection Administration promulgated the "Environmental Noise Standards and Measurement Methods Around Airports" in August 1988, which set forth strict requirements on the impact of airport noise. In recent years, the site selection work for new airports has included an "environmental assessment" chapter, focusing on analyzing the noise impact of the selected site, proposing measures, and submitting them to the competent authorities for review and approval before the location can be determined. For old airports built before 1949 and still in use today, they are generally relatively close to the city, and the impact of noise pollution cannot be ignored. However, given that the current volume of air transport business at these airports is not large and the country's financial resources are limited, it is necessary to relocate them immediately. If there are difficulties, the status quo can be maintained temporarily.

It is required that there be no colonies of birds in the area near the airport. Birds hitting the aircraft and birds being sucked into the engine block the air inlet and cause the engine to fail, which will cause serious impact or flight accidents. Bird strikes against aircraft mostly occur in low-altitude airspace below 500 meters. Currently used measures to repel birds include: sound intimidation, high-frequency oscillation to drive away birds, and falcons or hawks to suppress bird flocks.

Civil airports also need to establish complete fire protection and rescue facilities and institutions for fire prevention and rescue in places where aircraft take off, land, operate, park and maintain (including work areas and living areas). It focuses on preventing and extinguishing aircraft fires and rescuing the lives of the crew on board.

In addition to the characteristics of my country's key fire protection units (high fire risk, large losses, casualties, and great impact after a fire occurs), civil airport firefighting also has the characteristics of difficulty and time-consuming to put out aircraft fires. Strong and demanding characteristics. ICAO's requirements for fire rescue are: the fire brigade should arrive at the end of the runway within 2 minutes after receiving the alarm, and the time to reach 1,000 meters beyond the end of the runway should not be more than 3 minutes; when the first fire truck arrives, it must Reduces initial fire intensity by 90% for 1 minute. In order to meet the above requirements, when designing and constructing the airport, the fire station must be located at a suitable location to rescue aircraft fires in any part of the airport. The main vehicles used in fire stations should be equipped with special airport fire trucks with fast acceleration, strong off-road performance, large carrying capacity and high injection rate.

Airport fire safety is an important part of air transport operation and management. Civil airport fire prevention work is under the leadership of the Airport Regional Fire Prevention Committee, implementing the principle of "whoever is in charge, who is responsible", and implements the "Fire Protection Regulations of the People's Republic of China" and its implementation rules, as well as the regulations promulgated by the competent departments of the State Council and local governments. Fire regulations and relevant fire prevention regulations. The civil aviation public security fire supervision department implements fire protection supervision over all buildings, facilities, aircraft and units stationed at the airport, as well as the civilian parts of the joint military-civilian airport, and accepts the business guidance of the local public security fire supervision department.

China’s civil airport fire protection is implemented in accordance with the fire protection levels classified by the International Civil Aviation Organization. The classification of fire support levels is mainly based on the length and take-off and landing frequency of aircraft using the airport. Based on the airport fire protection level, my country has formulated interim standards for vehicles and staffing of civil airport fire stations and established a full-time firefighting team. The main task of the full-time firefighting team is to fight aircraft crashes or fire accidents that occur within the aircraft activity area or adjacent areas under their jurisdiction, to ensure the integrity of the aircraft fuselage and to provide the time required for the evacuation of the personnel on board. To this end, the airport fire brigade should work with the airport management department, air traffic control department, public security department, airport armed police force, medical rescue and other units to formulate plans in advance to deal with rescue issues in aircraft crashes, clarify on-site division of labor, and conduct regular comprehensive drills , to achieve mutual cooperation. Rescue and fire-fighting personnel should use all possible methods to enter the aircraft during rescue operations and fully assist in the evacuation of people on board to minimize casualties.

Strict and effective airport security inspections must be adopted to prevent illegal acts that endanger civil aviation safety. It is organized and implemented by the airport security inspection department in accordance with relevant national regulations. Its main tasks are: first, to treat Chinese and foreign passengers taking international and domestic civil flights and the luggage and items they carry, to people entering the airport isolation area and their items, and to cargo entrusted by the cargo owner to be transported by civil air, except with special permission. In addition, safety inspections will be carried out to prevent weapons, weapons, ammunition, explosive, flammable, highly toxic, radioactive items and other dangerous goods that endanger civil aviation safety from being brought or loaded onto the aircraft to protect the lives of civil aviation aircraft and passengers. The safety of property; the second is to be responsible for the safety management of the airport isolation area; the third is to be responsible for the supervision of international and domestic civil aircraft departing, transiting and entering the airport during their stay on the airport apron.

Methods for airport security inspection: First, technical inspection. Passengers must pass through the security gate or be inspected by a portable detector; travel season and cargo must be inspected by X-ray security inspection equipment. The security doors, portable detectors and X-ray security inspection equipment have all been scientifically identified and will not cause damage to passengers, luggage or cargo. The second is manual inspection. Passengers will be inspected manually by security inspectors of the same gender, and may be searched if necessary.

Baggage and cargo are opened and inspected. The above two inspection methods can be used alone or in combination. The basic requirement for airport security inspection is to organically unify safety, normal flight, and courteous service. It is an important part of aviation security and one of the key measures to implement the policy of "safety first, prevention first, and ground-based".

Internationally, airport security inspections began in 1970. In the early days, manual inspections were performed. The United States began to use instrument inspections in 1973, and Japan began to use instrument inspections in 1974, but at the same time they were supplemented by manual inspections. my country's airport security inspection began on April 1, 1981. First, security inspections were implemented on Chinese and foreign passengers taking international flights and their luggage. From November 1 of the same year, security inspections were implemented on Chinese and foreign passengers taking domestic flights and their luggage. Baggage items are also subject to security checks.