Weather & Technical Diversions, Delays & Cancellations

[TheLocalYokel]

A tailwind of greater than around 10 knots would explain the FR diversion to BHX.

Maybe that explains it although all other Ryanair arrivals seemed to get in.

I've noticed and commented before that under certain Cat 3 conditions easyJet aircraft seem to get in whilst Ryanair divert.

I've been given various explanations from company SOPs to the B 738 needing more visibility than the 319/320.

Incidentally, the evening Eastern from ABZ/LBA apparently diverted to Exeter last night as today's morning outbound was shown as operating from there.

The weather is still murky today but visibility appears better. My 'fog object' (the top of Dundry Hill) is clearly visible today whereas yesterday it was mist-shrouded all day.

 

[Aviador]

I' have the delights of Ilkley Moor and Baildon Moor to look at usually, but both are covered in cloud.

Today this viewpoint just half a mile from LBA is completely shrouded in mist and fog.

 

[Aviador]

Weather:
[textarea]METAR: EGNM 231550Z 02008KT 350V060 0200 R32/0350 FG VV/// 11/// Q1026

short-TAF: out of date (21679 hours)
long-TAF: EGNM 231604Z 2316/2412 02007KT 0200 FG VV/// PROB30 TEMPO 2316/2409 1400 BR SCT002 BKN003 BECMG 2409/2412 6000 NSW BKN006[/textarea]

Current visibility is 150m in fog (as of about 20 minutes ago) and it's expected to continue into the night.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Current visibility is 150m in fog (as of about 20 minutes ago) and it's expected to continue into the night.

Fortunately, the weather seems to have relented a bit because aircraft are still landing with the only diversion the teatime Blue Islands from Jersey that was several hours late and went into Cardiff.

Still about a dozen arrivals left this evening so let's hope the weather continues to co-operate.

Lots of aircraft out of place overnight would be something of a problem with 28 departures tomorrow morning before 0900.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Thursday 25 October 2012

Still murky and misty for much of the day with low cloud over nearby hills - the fourth such day in a row though today the wind was more noticeable.

Too strong for down wind landings with the Cat3 ILS on 27 which led to three diversions at lunchtime: all easyJet from Nice, Alicante and Murcia that all went into Cardiff.

Other aircraft including some easyJets landed around the time this trio diverted.

The passengers were brought back from CWL by coach and it seems the aircraft returned to BRS, possibly before the passengers.

 

[Aviador]

Has Bristol airport got any plans to upgrade runway 09 ILS to CAT3 standard to alleviate the problem of tail wind component landings? It does seem to be common for airports to operate with CAT3 only on one runway but if the weather isn't doing what it's supposed to do it can lead to some occasions when nothing gets in because of the tailwind. Airports will see this as a few and far between problem but with the aviation industry becoming more and more cut throat, it would seem this issue will become more and more pressing.

Off topic,

Wow 28 departures before 09:00 ! That a great figure for this time of year.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Has Bristol airport got any plans to upgrade runway 09 ILS to CAT3 standard to alleviate the problem of tail wind component landings?

I'm sure they would like to, despite the set-up and running costs, but the topography of the surrounding land makes Cat 3 impossible on 09.

Wow 28 departures before 09:00 ! That a great figure for this time of year.

Yes, 28 were scheduled to leave between 0600 and 0855:

12 easyJet A 319/320s
6 Ryanair B 738s
2 Thomson B 757s
2 Thomas Cook A 320s
2 KLM Cityhopper F 70s
1 Air France (Airlinair) ATR 42
1 bmiRegional (for Brussels Airlines) ERJ 145
1 Eastern Saab 2000
1 Aer Lingus Regional ATR 72

One of the easyJets, one of the Ryanairs, one of the KLMs and the Aer Lingus Regional were not based or night stoppers, but that still left 24 on the ground overnight.

This will reduce somewhat from November of course.

 

[Aviador]

Yes the dreaded winter months with the usual passenger drought as I've no doubt we'll be discussing in a few weeks time.

Thanks for the breakdown of airline departures this morning.

As for the topography, is that definitely the case? It didn't seem too hilly when I visited earlier this year? I've just had a look on Google Earth and the approach doesn't look any worse than the 32 approach at LBA, in fact, the LBA approach looks far worse! I understand flat ground is essential for the final stages of the approach, I don't know if ground levelling would be possible just prior to the runway threshold?

 

[TheLocalYokel]

As for the topography, is that definitely the case? It didn't seem too hilly when I visited earlier this year?

I don't think you went around to the western end of the airfield - it's accessible by a narrow country lane but takes a bit of finding if you're not familiar with the area.

Immediately beyond the western end of runway 27 the ground slopes away quite dramatically within the airport boundary (in the 1980s an Iberia A300 aquaplaned beyond the runway and stopped at the top of the steep bank) and beyond the bottom of the slope the land undulates into a series of wooded combes.

The eastern end of the field is flat (or what passes for flat at BRS) and about 12 years ago the airport paid several million quid for the A38 to be diverted in an arc to the east to allow the Cat 3b to be installed on 27.

Because BRS is only 7-8 miles from the Severn Estuary its elevated position is very noticeable and there are many impressive pictures of aircraft landing or taking off at the western end with the estuary as a backdrop.

Incidentally the 28 departures before 0900 I listed were for midweek (last Wednesday when there was a possibility the fog might have played havoc with aircraft overnight positioning the previous evening): today (Saturday) there were 22 before 0900.

 

[Aviador]

End of runway 09 at BRS

End of runway 09 looking towards the slope

End of runway 09 looking down the approach

Obviously I don't have the technical know how but looking at the area on Google street level I am pretty sure CAT3 would be achievable on runway 09. Work would be required to achieve this. The threshold of the runway is at the end of the tarmac surface which is the main problem. To allow CAT3 I'm pretty sure the threshold would need to be moved 300m further down the runway, this would be unacceptable as the landing distance available would be reduced significantly. I am reasonably sure this problem could be rectified by physically extending the runway surface by 300m leaving the threshold and landing zones in exactly the same place, or by raising the ground so the land is flat for at least 300m at the end of the runway. 300m would take the levelled area at the end of the runway to the row of lights in the field beyond Winters Lane shown in this Google Map.

[googlemap]http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en-GB&ll=51.38118,-2.734164&spn=0.003053,0.010461&t=h&z=17[/googlemap]

This is the 32 approach into Leeds where the ILS is CAT3. The threshold is displaced by the magic 300m to allow sufficient flat land prior to the touchdown zone.

geograph.org.uk

 

[TheLocalYokel]

To extend the runway or level the surrounding land at the western end of the field in the way you suggest would be a civil engineering job of monumental proportions.

If BRS was handling say 20 million passengers a year the airport might consider looking into the feasibility although there would be huge environental objections to extending the airport into the surrounding Green Belt in such an area of natural beauty.

Extending the runway to the west has never featured in any of the airport's public pronouncements or documents. It considered extending it at the eastern end (onto a common - another environmental minefield and it would mean tunnelling the A38) and laid out various options in its master plan of a few years ago, but came to the conclusion that 'the improvement in performance that might be achieved by extending the runway is relatively small in comparison with the costs and the potential environmental impact'.

Another problem could well be the hump in the runway which is towards the western end and which pilots on the DP and elsewhere mention as something to concentrate the mind when landing west to east, especially under certain weather conditions. This featured in an AAIB report into a heavy TOM B767 landing that caused significant fuselage damage a couple of years ago.

To remove the hump would be another major engineering task and how the airport could remain open during the work I don't know.

I suspect that BRS is stuck with Cat 3 on 27 only and an unextended runway indefinitely. No doubt at some point in the future ways will be found to lessen the negative impact of a short runway in terms of commercial operations (the B787 and A350 are supposed to be steps in that direction already) and science will discover a better system than ILS that can be used at both ends of the airfield.

Interesting enclosures in your last post by the way, Aviador. Thank you - I enjoyed looking at them.

 

[Aviador]

I am still convinced CAT3 would be achievable on the 09 end. I never said it would come cheap but once the terminal expansion has been completed it might come further up the pecking order.

Has Bristol been affected by the snow today? I saw it on the BBC news earlier this evening. 3 inches in November!

 

[big g]

Not to badly, just a few delays due to de-icing but only talking 5-10 mins.

 

[Aviador]

Thanks Big G,

It was splattered all over the news about snow in your area so I thought you'd probably suffered badly because of it.

 

[tpm]

I don't know about the airport, but here in South Bristol we had blue skies and sunshine while it was apparently snowing in Bath...

 

[big g]

We had snow at the airport from about 0730-0900, but it was to wet to lay on the ground. Iit was happy to lay on the aircraft though, luckily most had departed or been pre de-iced and it was the few on turnarounds that need it.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Cancellations Friday 7 December 2012

The morning KLM to AMS, Air France to CDG and Brussels Airlines to BRU rotations were all cancelled because of snow across the Channel.

 

[Aviador]

Yes I think the UK got off lightly in comparison.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Tuesday 11 December 2012

After a severe overnight frost and a sunny but very cold morning, thick fog descended over the Bristol area in the afternoon but it didn't seem to affect the airport greatly.

What breath of wind there was came from the east and during the morning runway 09 was operational. In the afternoon 27 was used - it has Cat 3b ILS - presumably with downwind landings with the result that at the time of posting only three flights have been lost:

The afternoon Air France from Cdg diverted to CWL.
The teatime Blue Islands from Jersey was cancelled.
The evening Eastern from Aberdeen/Leeds-Bradford was cancelled - I believe the aircraft was held at LBA.

 

[Aviador]

The Eastern Airways aircraft was indeed held at LBA. The crew (not based at Leeds) were put up in a hotel for the night.