On Wednesday, September 24, 2025, a United Airlines flight overshot the runway while landing in heavy rain at the Roanoke–Blacksburg Regional Airport. Unable to stop on the pavement, the aircraft came to rest in the Engineered Materials Arresting System (EMAS), a specialized safety zone designed to halt overrunning aircraft.
That EMAS was planned and built by our own Branch Builds team, led by Executive Vice President Berton Austin, Superintendents Adam Johnson and Richard Pasquale, and Project Managers Travis Cooper and Scott Webber.
United flight goes off runway at Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport... 9.25.25 (Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport)
From the very start, the project demanded strategic pre-planning, precise scheduling, and seamless coordination among a 40-member team and six key subcontractors. Every detail mattered; the schedule left no room for error.
Through it all, Branch employee-owners embodied our culture of ownership, demanding excellence, refusing to cut corners, and turning high expectations into daily practice.
On Wednesday, the system performed exactly as designed and saved lives.
This incident underscores a fundamental truth: what we build must withstand worst-case scenarios.
Demand excellence. Don’t cut corners. Do what is right, always. Work the project like you own it—because lives depend on it.
