A foam path is the aviation safety practice of spreading a layer of fire suppression foam on an airport runway prior to an emergency landing. Originally, it was thought this would prevent fires, but the practice is now discouraged.
The U.S. FAA recommended foam paths for emergency landings beginning in 1966, but withdrew that recommendation in 1987, although it did not bar its use. In 2002, a circular recommended against using pre-foaming except in certain circumstances. In particular, the FAA was concerned that pre-foaming would deplete firefighting foam supplies in the event they were needed to respond to a fire. Also, foam on the runway may decrease the effectiveness of the landing airplane's brakes, possibly leading to it overshooting the runway.
Foam is still used in aviation firefighting, usually in conjunction with Purple-K dry chemical.
Famous quotes containing the words foam and/or path:
““To dine!” she shrieked in dragon-wrath.
“To swallow wines all foam and froth!
To simper at a table-cloth!”
Say, can thy noble spirit stoop
To join the gormandising troop
Who find solace in the soup?”
—Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (1832–1898)
“Round the cape of a sudden came the sea,
And the sun looked over the mountain’s rim:
And straight was a path of gold for him,
And the need of a world of men for me.”
—Robert Browning (1812–1889)