Boca Raton uses barriers Miami International lacked
This jet overran the runway last year at Boca Raton Airport, but the Engineered Material Arresting System — the crushed concrete block surrounding the plane — prevented it from continuing toward busy Spanish River Boulevard. Photo provided
By Rich Pollack
It was just after 5 p.m. on a Wednesday in September 2025 when a 23,000-pound Bombardier Jet overran the runway at Boca Raton Airport and headed toward heavily traveled Spanish River Boulevard.
But before the business jet from Las Vegas carrying two passengers and two pilots came close to the fence separating the road from the runway, it was stopped by a safety system installed at the 78-year-old airport just nine years earlier.
That system, the Engineered Material Arresting System, or EMAS, has been in the spotlight in recent weeks following the fatal Sept. 6 crash at Miami International Airport when a Boeing 767 overshot the runway and plowed into a van and another vehicle, killing five.
Miami’s airport does not have an EMAS system. Boca Raton’s has one at each end of the runway. It is one of only 72 airports nationwide to have the technology.
The systems, which use crushable concrete blocks to stop overrunning planes, have proven successful time and time again, says Boca Raton Airport Authority Executive Director Clara Bennett.
“They’re proven not just to save property and aircraft but also to save lives,” she said.
In South Florida, President Donald J. Trump International Airport in West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport both have EMAS systems at runway ends. The Palm Beach County Park Airport in Lantana does not have the systems.
Since the Federal Aviation Administration began requiring airports meeting certain specifications to install the EMAS system, there have been 26 incidents where they have been used and have successfully stopped aircraft, Bennett said.
“Every aircraft has been repaired and flyable,” she said.
One of the other times the system was used successfully occurred in Chicago on the same day as the incident in Boca Raton, which Bennett said could have been disastrous had the EMAS system not been in place.
Boca Raton Airport was selected by the FAA to have the EMAS systems because the safety zones between the end of its runway and Spanish River Boulevard to the north and the Boca Raton Utility Services Complex to the south are less than 1,000 feet.
Funding for the $13 million installation of the EMAS systems at Boca Raton Airport came largely from the FAA, with the state providing 5% of the cost and the Boca Raton Airport Authority providing another 5%.
Airports with EMAS systems installed generally have a bed of crushable concrete blocks at the end of the runway that are designed specifically for the type of aircraft using the airport. Boca Raton Airport serves light, midsized jets and single-engine and multi-engine aircraft.
When a plane overshoots a runway and rolls over the blocks, the wheels sink into the blocks which then collapse under the weight of the plane. The aircraft is then quickly slowed down due to resistance and drag.
The blocks in the EMAS system are easily repaired or replaced.
An online video of the EMAS system stopping the Bombardier business jet in Boca Raton shows the plane stopping in a cloud of dust as the concrete blocks crumble. Heavy traffic on Spanish River Boulevard is clearly visible.
Bennett said there’s a good chance the plane would have reached the road had the EMAS not been in place.
The systems were installed in Boca Raton in 2016 on the north end and in 2017 on the south end.
“Airports like ours are grateful that the FAA invested in the research and development and supported the installation of these systems,” Bennett said.
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