By the end of 1995，a new soft ground arresting system should reduce potential damage to aircraft overshooting the runways at the New York and New Jersey airports. The new system will be installed at the end of two or three runways at JFK international (1995/1997), one at Newark International (1998), and two at LaGuardia Airport (1996), all falling short of the 1000 ft(350m) overrun required by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). In a four-year cooperative agreement, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, owners of the region’s three major airports, has agreed to fund up to $4.5 million jointly with the FAA, to complete research, design, installation and monitoring of the concrete based foam blocks, said to bring a four-engined Boeing 747 travelling at 60mph to a full stop in under 600ft (183m). Information gathered during operation of the first block, to be in place at JFK by the end of the year, is intended to be used by the FAA for the preparation of a nationwide standard. The system, designed by ESCO (Engineering Systems Company) has already been suc cessfully tested at the FAA’s Technical Center, but requires further detailed investigation before the design can be finalized. Questions that still need to be answered revolve around the ease of snow removal, maintenance, strength and longevity, and on how to stop animals burrowing into the soft material. These will ultimately determine the composition of the arrester blocks. A full-scale test with an aircraft will be undertaken at the Technical Center in June. The precast foam blocks comprise a mixture of foaming agents bound by cementations material, producing a low density, light weight aerated block with little tensile strength, so that it is easily crushed when overrun by an aircraft, simulating the effect of being bogged down in sand. This deliberate fragility will affect not only the size of the blocks and jointing, but also transportation. For this reason, ESCO will be setting up a precasting factory at JFK for the first installation covering an area of 150 ft (45m) --the width of the runways--by 540ft (165m) in length. 1.The new soft ground arresting system is designed to .