Word: runways
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...caused by starlings that choked the plane's engines. As if to underscore their findings, an Eastern Airlines DC-8 jet struck a flock of birds last week as it taxied for a take-off from Boston's Logan International Airport, slammed to a stop on the runway only in the nick of time. Alarmed, Logan authorities established roving bands of shotgun-armed guards who have orders to shoot at birds on sight...
...edge toward the towering Peak-shipyards, smoking factories, villas drowned in gardens, balconied tenements, squatters' huts clinging to bare rock, bright new skyscrapers still wrapped in bamboo scaffolding. Coming in low over rooftops fluttering with blue and white laundry, the jet roars down upon the 8,000-foot runway of Kai Tak Airport. Thus, last week, another planeload of tourists landed amid the sights, sounds, smells and bracing excitement of Hong Kong...
...airliner down to a gentle-or safe-landing is a considerable stunt. But heavy, fast, steeply sinking jet planes have made the proposition even trickier. Their pilots cannot make a so-so approach and depend on last-minute power adjustments to keep them from overshooting or undershooting the runway. They must fly "by the numbers"-at precise letdown speeds, with their wing flaps set precisely right and their noses at the correct angle. Once a 150-ton jet is committed to land, it must follow a very narrow "slot of forgiveness," never deviating appreciably as it approaches the runway...
...system, which will soon be familiar to air travelers, is remarkably simple. Twelve powerful lights are arranged in groups of three around the threshold of the runway. In front of each lamp is a filter with a red upper half and a clear lower half. In front of the filter is a two-inch horizontal slit. When an observer is above the center of the beam, the lamp looks white; in the middle it changes to pink, and in the lower half...
...lamps are set pointing upward at angles that mark out the glide path. When the pilot makes the proper approach, he sees on each side of the runway two bars of lights. The near group is white, the far group red (see diagram). As long as they stay that way, he is doing all right. But if the white lights turn pink or red, he is approaching too low. If the red lights turn pink or white, he is too high. He has plenty of time to get in the slot. Even with brilliant sunlight competing with the lights, they...