U.S. Department 

of Transportation 

Federal Aviation 

Administration 

Advisory 

Circular

Subject: AIRFIELD PAVEMENT SURFACE 

EVALUATION AND RATING MANUALS 

Date: 7/12/04

Initiated by: AAS-100 

AC No: 150/5320-17

Change: 

1. PURPOSE. This Advisory Circular (AC) provides 

guidance on understanding and rating the surface 

condition of flexible and rigid airfield pavements. It

describes types and causes of distress and provides a 

simple system to visually rate pavement condition on a 

scale ranging from excellent to failed. 

2. BACKGROUND. The Federal Aviation

Administration (FAA) evaluated options for improving 

the quality of information available to the Agency on

airfield pavement conditions in response to Section 160 

of the Wendall H. Ford Aviation Investment and 

Reform Act for the 21st Century (P.L. 106–181). The 

evaluation resulted in selecting an existing inexpensive 

pavement condition rating system to adapt for use on 

airfield pavements. The rating system is modeled 

after the University of Wisconsin's Pavement Surface 

Evaluation and Rating System (PASER). The rating 

system is meant as a source of information for rating 

pavements under the airport safety data program. The 

manuals will also assist airport managers in

understanding the surface condition of airfield 

pavements. 

These manuals were produced for the FAA by

Engineering Professional Development, College of 

Engineering, University of Wisconsin–Madison. 

3. APPLICATION. The FAA recommends the 

information and procedures contained in the manuals 

for use by airport staff and consultants directly or in 

combination with additional testing and data collection 

in a more comprehensive pavement maintenance 

management system.

DAVID L. BENNETT 

Director, Office of Airport Safety and Standards 

The information in this AC is not intended to decide 

the need or timeliness for pavement rehabilitation 

projects. These decisions should be determined as a 

result of more technical investigations that may 

include a detailed pavement condition index (PCI) 

study. 

The manuals will help provide a degree of uniformity 

to field observations made by individuals collecting 

data for the Airport Master Record (FAA Form 5010). 

The data element description for Surface 

Type/Condition (Data Element 33 of the National 

Airspace System Resources database) has been revised 

to incorporate information from this AC. 

 The manual for asphalt airfield pavements is included 

in this AC as Appendix 1. The manual for concrete 

airfield pavements is included as Appendix 2. 

4. RELATED READING MATERIAL. 

AC 150/5380-6, Guidelines and Procedures for 

Maintenance of Airport Pavements, and 

AC 150/5380-8, Handbook for Identification of AlkaliSilica Reactivity in Airfield Pavements provide 

additional guidance and technical information for 

identifying distresses in airfield pavements. 

5. ONLINE AVAILABILITY. To view and 

download this AC, visit the FAA Web site at 

http://www.faa.gov/arp/150acs.cfm. 

AC 150/5320-17 Appendix 1 7/12/2004 

APPENDIX 1--ASPHALT AIRFIELD PAVEMENT 

SURFACE EVALUATION AND RATING MANUAL

AC 150/5320-17 Appendix 2 7/12/2004 

APPENDIX 2--CONCRETE AIRFIELD PAVEMENT 

SURFACE EVALUATION AND RATING MANUAL