Melbourne Landing - A bit suss

[Kim F]

Sorry not sure which category this belongs in.

This morning, CBR - MLB landing was interesting (QF), we were going to land to the North on the main NS runway but our approach was almost as if we were going to land on the EW. There was a nice smooth, last minute turn to the North and final approach.

However as we did the final, I had a good view out the window of another aircraft doing a final on the EW, coming from the E. Our respective touchdowns were not going to be that far apart (with my aircraft being first). In a perfect world and a normal landing, you would expect our aircraft (734) to pull up before the 2 run ways intersect (and we did) but I couldn't help feel that it was a bit too close if something went wrong.

Any comments ?

[Kim F]

While I'm at it, the return flight this evening had a hiccup starring me!

I had printed my boarding pass the morning before - non surprisingly, I was Seq No. 1 for the return flight and was allocated 6A.

QC is undergoing renovation so I left early and went for a stroll before boarding. When they actually started boarding, I was actually the first to board. The flight by my standard was certainly not full. After a while, the dribble of boarding passengers had dried up and then the cabin crew paged to see whether I was aboard.

I pushed my call-button and 2 crew members came to see me. They asked why I was sitting where I was and how did I get on board.

I showed them my boarding pass, pointed at the steward who had scanned me and told them I was the first on board.

They asked me to move to 23 A for takeoff as the Trim settings somehow had me sitting me up the back. This somwhat disappointed me as row 6 had business class legroom but they said I could move back after takeoff.

When we landed in Canberra and I turned on my mobile, there was a very irate message from Qantas in Melbourne demanding where I was and the plane was waiting for me. Sounds like I fooled their systems !

[Mick F]

G'day Kim,
The landing you described sounds like they were operating with LAHSO procedures (Land and Hold Short). Can be common when 2 runways intersect, but so far apart that a safe landing and braking can occur before the aircraft get anywhere near the other runway.

So even though you were both landing at the same time, it is perfectly acceptable.

Cheers

Mick

[Nathan Long]

Kim,

Nothing suss at all, that's just standard arrival from the NE onto Runway 34.

http://www.airservicesaustralia.com/publications/current/dap/MMLSR05-114.pdf