Cross Runway Simultaneous Landing ?

[Jon B]

Tonight (3/3) I was on DJ 864 landing into Mel from East on RW27, we landed at almost exactly the same time as Jetstar A320 flight from CHC landing on RW 34 from South. Both landed at 18:08 when i checked on webtrak. Just curious as to the rules on the use of both runways like this as when we crossed RW 34 (I was in seat 6A so had a clear view) the Jetstar Airbus was also on its landing roll.
I understand that it the Airbus exited RW 34 well short of the crossover but just had not seen this before where both aircraft where landing at pretty much the exact same time, ie usually one aircraft has passed the runway crossing point before the other lands.

Also of interest was the track we flew after passing to the East of Canberra, we then turned due West off the normal Southbound track and then turned South - was obviously to avoid weather en route but what i was suprised by was that when we turned to South (ish) again we were on same track as we generally fly when Northbound - it was very clear this was the case when somewhere near about Tumut a Sydney bound QF 737 i think went Northbound not very far beneath us. I thought this was a bit of an unusual track from the norm.

Just would be interested to know about why these two events occured as we fly this route almost every week (Up to Syd on Tuesday back on Thursday). Certainly not saying it was an incident or any great drama but i would be interested to know why such landings are allowed and how often such tracks would be flown in that way. I understand the track was weather related but on the many other times this has occured we have either flown along the east Coast (once down as far as Tassie before coming back up to mel to avoid weather) or further West on say the Southbound track from Brisbane

[Owen H]

In terms of weather tracks, its just a case of going wherever the weather isn't. Some days its best to go futher east, others further west. There may have been other factors too, that I don't know. There is no "standard" weather deviation.

As for the landings, its called Land And Hold Short Operations... LAHSO. The aircraft landing on Rwy 34 is given a landing clearance with the requirement to hold short of the crossing runway... in this case 27. There are some flashing lights on Rwy 34 where it crosses 27 so it is easy to see.

LAHSO is done only under specific weather conditions (ie good visibility), and is done for Takeoffs on 27, Landing on 34, or Landing on both, and the wind is appropriate for use on both runways.

[Jason H]

I believe they would be using LAHSO (Land and Hold Short Operations) where the aircraft landing on 34 would have to hold short of runway 27/09, or vacate the runway before hand. In MEL pretty much all aircraft vacate before the cross over so it's not a big problem and they do it all the time.

[Robert Zweck]

Don't know much about other locations, but LAHSO is very common in Adelaide.

It invariably involves Domestic jets landing on RWY 23 and GA traffic on RWY 12


Come to think of it, this is about the only combination.

[David M]

Rex occasionally use LAHSO on rwy12.

David.M.

[Adrian B]

LAHSO is an almost daily occurence in YMML when 34 is used for landings and 27 / 34 used for takeoff. Most exist will be via the high speed exit Foxtrot. LDA (Landing distance available) is about 2600 metres.

Here is the Air services link for Melbourne

[Jon B]

Belated Thank you to all for posting answer on this question - i shall have to ensure i have a forward window again next week on the Virgin!

[Jeff Lane]

This was the norm before the third runway.