damien b
6th June 2008, 06:17 AM
From smh.com.au
Melbourne Airport will become the first Australian airport to obtain certification allowing aircraft to land in fog in a bid to avoid the kind of delays experienced by passengers this week.
At least nine flights had to be diverted and a further 14 domestic flights were delayed on Tuesday after heavy fog blanketed the city and reduced visibility to 100 metres.
By the end of the year, Melbourne Airport expects to have the country's first "category III" instrument landing system, a ground-based system that uses a combination of radio signals, high-intensity lighting and computer software to guide an aircraft towards the runway.
Centre-line lighting along the runway will be installed by Airservices Australia as part of the airport's $330 million expansion of the international terminal.
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority will be required to provide certification to make sure that airports and airlines are trained and equipped to land an aircraft in category III conditions, which result in a complete loss of visibility.
CASA spokesman Peter Gibson said a discussion paper would be distributed later this year to determine the enthusiasm of the industry to move to category III. Sydney and Canberra airports have also spoken to CASA about obtaining category III certification.
"If the airlines come to us and want the capability then we can look at it. They would have some aircraft that would currently be able to do it and some that can't. It is then a matter of putting it into their operations manuals, training their pilots, putting it into their training and checking manuals and then there is recurrent training, " Mr Gibson said.
Most international pilots had category III training but it was not always provided to domestic pilots, he said.
A Qantas spokeswoman said "most" of its international and domestic pilots could operate in category III conditions.
Melbourne Airport spokeswoman Emma Stenhouse said the airport was working closely with Airservices Australia, CASA and the airlines to achieve the certification.
I wonder if this may place pressure of Sydney airport to upgrade to CAT III in the future?
Melbourne Airport will become the first Australian airport to obtain certification allowing aircraft to land in fog in a bid to avoid the kind of delays experienced by passengers this week.
At least nine flights had to be diverted and a further 14 domestic flights were delayed on Tuesday after heavy fog blanketed the city and reduced visibility to 100 metres.
By the end of the year, Melbourne Airport expects to have the country's first "category III" instrument landing system, a ground-based system that uses a combination of radio signals, high-intensity lighting and computer software to guide an aircraft towards the runway.
Centre-line lighting along the runway will be installed by Airservices Australia as part of the airport's $330 million expansion of the international terminal.
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority will be required to provide certification to make sure that airports and airlines are trained and equipped to land an aircraft in category III conditions, which result in a complete loss of visibility.
CASA spokesman Peter Gibson said a discussion paper would be distributed later this year to determine the enthusiasm of the industry to move to category III. Sydney and Canberra airports have also spoken to CASA about obtaining category III certification.
"If the airlines come to us and want the capability then we can look at it. They would have some aircraft that would currently be able to do it and some that can't. It is then a matter of putting it into their operations manuals, training their pilots, putting it into their training and checking manuals and then there is recurrent training, " Mr Gibson said.
Most international pilots had category III training but it was not always provided to domestic pilots, he said.
A Qantas spokeswoman said "most" of its international and domestic pilots could operate in category III conditions.
Melbourne Airport spokeswoman Emma Stenhouse said the airport was working closely with Airservices Australia, CASA and the airlines to achieve the certification.
I wonder if this may place pressure of Sydney airport to upgrade to CAT III in the future?