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With all the ideas I hear coming from many about how to prevent this from happening, such as crushable concrete at the ends of runways and such, why hasn't anyone thought of the most obvious prevention?

DON'T BUILD ROADS AND BUSINESSES RIGHT NEXT TO AIRPORT RUNWAYS!!!!!!!

Are people so Stuck on Stupid to build and buy property adjacent to an airport without realizing that airplanes land there? I can't remember any airport being built in the middle of a busy business or housing district, but there are sure has been a lot of those business and housing constructions smothering the airports.

Use some common sense, it isn't all that hard.

In most cases, the airports were there before the city grew up around them. And the runways were plenty long enough to handle the planes of the day when built. Airplanes have gotten bigger since then, and no other Midway-type airport can be built in this country - there needs to be a buffer zone at the end of the runway.

But closing older, close-in airports like Midway or LaGuardia would really inconvenience business travelers, since they'd have to go much further to get to the airport. The closest suitable location in the Chicagoland area is Peotone, which is 50 miles or so from the city. O'Hare is pretty much maxed out until the runways get realigned. And I have no idea how they'd ever replace LaGuardia - there's not enough big lots of land around New York City for 75 miles or so. Stewart Airport near Newburgh would be the only place I could think of. Expanding JFK or Newark wouldn't be an option (although JFK has some non-peak capacity).