Patent ID: 6604732
Filing Date: 2003-08-12
Classification: E04H

Abstract:
In a barrier intended to intercept a crashing airplane before the crashing airplane reaches a target and comprising an array of spaced towers, each of which is several hundred feet tall, an improvement wherein each tower comprises a trusswork including steel tubes, wherein each tube is filled at least partially with a cementitious material which is pumped into said tube and which is allowed to cure, wherein each tube comprises plural sections, which have end flanges and which are bolted to one another at the flanges, wherein the flanges contacted by the cementitious material being pumped have means to prevent the cementitious material from being extruded between the flanges contacted by the cementitious material before the cementitious material has cured, and wherein the means comprise gaskets between the flanges contacted by the cementitious material being pumped, and wherein the barrier further comprises a set of guys interconnecting each tower of the array with at least one other tower of the array, whereby forces imparted by an airplane crashing into a given tower of the array are distributed by guys of the first set to the at least one other tower interconnected with the given tower.