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Jul 22, 2019, 4:40 am
#257
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: London
Programs: Mucci. Nothing else matters.
Posts: 38,644
as some of you may or may not know, I hail from Australia, land of CTAFs, uncontrolled airspace and not that many control towers
currently in the Scottish islands and surprised to find places such as benbecula, barra etc have ATC Towers (haven’t made it to westray airport yet but I suspect they do not)
in australia I doubt any of these places would- smallest I can think of with a tower is Albury (possibly due to a large amount of flight school traffic), Ayers Rock is uncontrolled, places like Horn Island and certain fields on the Tiwis that can exceed 50 movements per hour (I believe) at peak times also uncontrolled
so the question is, what’s the deal? Does the UK have uncontrolled airspace/uncontrolled fields at all, or are the limits just different or...what’s going on?!
currently in the Scottish islands and surprised to find places such as benbecula, barra etc have ATC Towers (haven’t made it to westray airport yet but I suspect they do not)
in australia I doubt any of these places would- smallest I can think of with a tower is Albury (possibly due to a large amount of flight school traffic), Ayers Rock is uncontrolled, places like Horn Island and certain fields on the Tiwis that can exceed 50 movements per hour (I believe) at peak times also uncontrolled
so the question is, what’s the deal? Does the UK have uncontrolled airspace/uncontrolled fields at all, or are the limits just different or...what’s going on?!
Reading yet another Australian report of a loss of separation involving an airliner operating at an airport with no air traffic control, I wondered about this:
Does BA operate to any airports where there is no air traffic control for the airfield, or at times when there is no ATC there?
Has BA ever done so? What would BA's likely attitude be to the withdrawal of ATC from an airfield? Would BA be prepared to continue to operate there?
Does BA operate to any airports where there is no air traffic control for the airfield, or at times when there is no ATC there?
Has BA ever done so? What would BA's likely attitude be to the withdrawal of ATC from an airfield? Would BA be prepared to continue to operate there?
I can't comment on all destinations but I would be very surprised if BA operates to any uncontrolled airports. If they can't afford ATC I doubt they could afford the fire cover, or other services required to allow operations of the size that BA operate. It is possible that some codes her partners may operate to such airfields. I do not claim to be an expert in this but having flown long and short haul for BA from both LHR and LGW I have not come across such an airfield on the network nor heard of any such.
If ATC were withdrawn from an airfield I doubt we would continue to operate there. All such decisions would be made on a safety basis and that would likely cause it to be rejected as an airfield.
If ATC were withdrawn from an airfield I doubt we would continue to operate there. All such decisions would be made on a safety basis and that would likely cause it to be rejected as an airfield.
Jul 22, 2019, 6:58 am
#258
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: NT Australia
Programs: QF WP
Posts: 4,159
Most interesting. I believe all airfields in Australia receiving jet service have to have some kind of professional aviation fire capability (when I worked on Groote Eylandt the mine had to shut down when the charters were due in as the fire trucks and ambulance had to head down to the airfield to provide cover)
haven’t paid close attention to YAYE but can’t imagine they wouldn’t have something similar in place also
the loss of separation incidents do continue to occur periodically though. I suspect a lot of that is the large number of general aviation planes operating into the smaller fields. The amount of traffic is just phenomenal (Horn island the largest thing that lands is a Q400, the tiwis would be king airs max. 50 movements an hour...)
haven’t paid close attention to YAYE but can’t imagine they wouldn’t have something similar in place also
the loss of separation incidents do continue to occur periodically though. I suspect a lot of that is the large number of general aviation planes operating into the smaller fields. The amount of traffic is just phenomenal (Horn island the largest thing that lands is a Q400, the tiwis would be king airs max. 50 movements an hour...)
Jul 22, 2019, 10:53 am
#259
Join Date: Mar 2019
Posts: 19
A few questions about single engine taxi please:
When do you [decide to] start the second engine?
Do you keep the APU running and use it’s bleed air to start the second engine or is it the first engine’s job?
When taxying on one engine do you have to compensate when turning for the asymmetric thrust or is this automatically done?
Thanks for satisfying my geeky curiosity!
When do you [decide to] start the second engine?
Do you keep the APU running and use it’s bleed air to start the second engine or is it the first engine’s job?
When taxying on one engine do you have to compensate when turning for the asymmetric thrust or is this automatically done?
Thanks for satisfying my geeky curiosity!
Jul 22, 2019, 1:02 pm
#261
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: LON
Programs: Mucci, BAEC, Eurostar
Posts: 3,284
I have a question regarding BA at AMS. Why is it that they always have to land so far that it takes 15 minutes to taxi? Is it a matter of paying more to get the runways closer to the terminal? It's bad enough that we have to walk the whole length of concourse D every time...
Jul 22, 2019, 1:08 pm
#262
Ambassador, British Airways; FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Leeds, UK
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, GfL, HH Diamond
Posts: 42,887
I have a question regarding BA at AMS. Why is it that they always have to land so far that it takes 15 minutes to taxi? Is it a matter of paying more to get the runways closer to the terminal? It's bad enough that we have to walk the whole length of concourse D every time...
the only good point is when landing on 18R with the long taxi in, the departure is usually from runway 24 which is right next to the D gates which ba use.
Jul 22, 2019, 3:59 pm
#263
Join Date: May 2019
Posts: 23
I have a question regarding BA at AMS. Why is it that they always have to land so far that it takes 15 minutes to taxi? Is it a matter of paying more to get the runways closer to the terminal? It's bad enough that we have to walk the whole length of concourse D every time...
Jul 22, 2019, 4:25 pm
#264
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold; FB Silver; SPG; IHG Gold
Posts: 2,981
I have a question regarding BA at AMS. Why is it that they always have to land so far that it takes 15 minutes to taxi? Is it a matter of paying more to get the runways closer to the terminal? It's bad enough that we have to walk the whole length of concourse D every time...
Jul 22, 2019, 5:20 pm
#265
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: LON
Programs: Mucci, BAEC, Eurostar
Posts: 3,284
As KARFA mentioned it is all planned by the airport and the general rule is if you come from the North and they are landing in a Southerly direction, you get the long taxi. Conversely if landing Northerly, you get the very short taxi. It all evens out in the end as mentioned with the departure. There is nothing to do with cost. With regards the reason for the end of concorse D, that is due to being non-Schengen and in the European Union. All the non-European arriving passengers are not allowed to mix with departures, and use a separate overhead arrivals channel. This area of D gates doesn’t have it, and is locally known as ‘little britain’ as it is where all the UK arrivals happen, as well as ROI and a few other non-schengen EU. EasyJet uses the low-cost pens, be careful what you wish for! The 767 used to get a special gate, as it doesn’t fit on the ones at the end.
(Anyway, the rant was about the taxi, I thought there would be something Schengen related for the gates, but thanks for the insight! )
Jul 23, 2019, 2:08 am
#266
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Flatland
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold 1MM, BA Gold, UA Peon
Posts: 6,105
The lower numbered D gates at AMS are suitable for wide-body aircraft and so are used mostly for them, such as USA flights. You could handle a BA aircraft from the UK at any of D, E, F, or G piers but the low D, E, F and G piers are used for either widebody aircraft or those from security un-trusted places (having the overhead passage to transit security and arrivals) or both. Hence BA gets the least versatile non-Schengen gates - the high-numbered D gates.
Jul 23, 2019, 3:57 am
#267
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: City of Kingston Upon Hull
Programs: BAEC Gold
Posts: 4,940
I once had an announcement on a KLM flight from AMS back to Humberside that we would shortly be taxiing to Humberside airport, but we may have to hop across a short stretch of water in the process.
Jul 23, 2019, 2:06 pm
#268
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 387
Regarding a few posts above, around the Highlands and Islands Loganair operate into airports with no air traffic service of any type but with fire cover appropriate to the aircraft. Quite fancy going up and doing a few of them sometime just for fun.
Jul 23, 2019, 2:27 pm
#269
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: NT Australia
Programs: QF WP
Posts: 4,159
after my last week I will offer up the following advice. Build large amounts of padding into your schedules and prepare for many of the flights not to operate at all. I managed the take off from Barra beach runway but not a landing, and the Orkney inter-islander service didn’t happen at all. They were willing to rebook me to the next day but I just didn’t have the capacity for it, especially with HIAL ATC strikers shutting down Kirkwall airport the day after I left
Jul 29, 2019, 1:48 am
#270
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: LON
Programs: Mucci, BAEC, Eurostar
Posts: 3,284
I have a question regarding BA at AMS. Why is it that they always have to land so far that it takes 15 minutes to taxi? Is it a matter of paying more to get the runways closer to the terminal? It's bad enough that we have to walk the whole length of concourse D every time...
You win some, you lose some
