jimc_usa

Mods please move if wrong place but I figured the will affec NW pax more than anyone else. Kind of strange to see aircraft taking off West to East this morning.
One of four runways at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport will close Monday for about two months while crews reconstruct the middle 3,100 feet of pavement, the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) said.
Delay may be inevitable

http://www.startribune.com/462/story/1357391.html

dusdidt

Thanks for this alert. I'll keep it mind as to whether I connect in MSP or DTW on my upcoming trips to Asia.

bonoman

I take off during what would be "busy" times at MSP (Monday 0700, Fridays 1700), but I don't think in the last two months, we've ever been more than 3rd in line, usually 1st or 2nd. I can't imagine this adding much time onto departures/arrivals there.

JTMSP

During reconstruction, delays of 9-14 minutes are forecast during good weather, and 24-29 minute delays during inclement weather. All in all, not much to worry about. Most, if not all airlines have adjusted their schedules to reflect these "delays."

bonoman

Heck, if you're already 2nd in line, its already a 9 min delay. I wonder what they say their "standard" delays are.

kyushuman

Our 1140AM departure today MSP-SFO waited nearly 30 minutes to take off, and the pilot mentioned it was due to the construction.
UA's ORD-MSP on Monday the 13th was also about 40 minutes late, also due to runway construction, according to the pilot. Scheduled for a 130pm arrival, got in 30-40 minutes late.

Sam Drucker

I was riding past the airport tonight on Cedar Ave when I saw (for the first time ever) the extremely uncommon usage of runway 17 for landings, no doubt due to the construction.

Have they also used runway 35 for takeoffs during this time?

SchmutzigMSP

If the winds/traffic are in a northwesterly flow (not the airline, the compass direction), they will use 35 and 4 for departures. Those could result in some relatively long taxi times. On the flipside, they'll be landing on 30R which should be relatively short for taxi time (unless you're headed to G22 or something...).

Of course, all the heavies (read A330/747) operations will likely use 4/22 solely.

AviationFan

That reminds me, I have been curious what the regular use of 4/22 is (or used to be). I think in about a decade of flying through MSP, I remember only one time where I took off on this runway (it was on e 747 back when KLM flew to MSP).

Was 4/22 at some point in time the main runway at MSP?

- Martin

SchmutzigMSP

I think you pretty much nailed it.

It's primarily only used in inclement weather or for some of the heavies that are really loaded full. 12R/30L can handle the 744s most of the time and they like to use that when possible. But with it now closed, I don't see the 744s and other heavies using anything other than 4/22.

NWA_5479

Even before the constrution, NW19 has been using 4/22 for take-off almost exclusively for the last few months. The A330's have not, but will most certainly begin now that 12R/30L is under construction. NW20, however, almost exclusively landed on 12R/30L.

jimc_usa

I never did understand what the runway designations mean - anyone?

http://www.macnoise.com/pdfs/pilot-info/msp_ad.pdf

JTMSP

"Runway numbers are primarily chosen based on the magnetic heading of the runway. Since a take-off or landing can normally be accomplished on the same piece of pavement in either direction, runways are designated with two numbers, and the number used approximates the direction of travel along the pavement from one threshold to the other. We drop the last number of the heading, rounding up or down as required. If a runway's heading is 020° degrees magnetic, the runway is named as 02 (or just 2 to our American counterparts) if you're on the south end looking north (well, north northeast, actually). Thats the number you'll see painted on the runway threshold as you approach to land. If you approach the runway from the other side, you'll notice a heading which is the reciprocal of 020°. This would end up being 180° off 020°, and that would work out to 200°, so the number on the threshold as you look south southwest would be 20.

For another example, a runway heading of 272° is normally named runway 27. It's reciprocal would be runway 09 (272 - 180 = 092, the '2' being rounded down)."

Not the cleanest explanation, but a starting point.

avidflyer

I think that was a great explanaition and spot on. The runway number is the heading and that is why every runway has 2 "numbers" one for one direction (heading) and one for the other.. If you are in the cockpit on runway "17" at MHT the compass heading would read 170. Going the other way is runway "35" or 350 on the heading.

mrcimino1

And on the very FIRST day that a pilot sits in his very first airplane, he learns that the very LAST thing he should do before he advances the throttle(s) for takeoff is to verify that the magnetic compass heading, the gyroscopic compass heading, and the runway he thinks he is using are all exactly the same number. It seems that a couple of Comair jet jockeys might have forgotten about this basic step on an early morning departure from Lexington, KY, last year.