When airliners land, they can shed up to 7lb of rubber each time. It’s the rubbing on the ground during braking that causes this.
There is thus a need to use special equipment to scrub runways every few days.
Today’s invention is to fit each airliner with a set of wire brushes behind the wheels.
As each wheel grips the tarmac, it drives a rotary wire brush placed behind it and which is in contact with the ground. This disrupts the layer of rubber which would otherwise form.
It would also be possible to use the landing speed airflow to direct the rubber particles into a lightweight filter attached to the undercarriage.
This could be replaced for every flight.
