Melbourne Airport to go CAT III

[damien b]

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?

[David Ramsay]

Cat IIIB system has been operating at NZAA for about a month now. It has been used for lo vis landings on three or four mornings in that time and has already proven it's worth. It's great.

Decision height is 50 feet and min RVR 210 metres (going from memory here so stand to be corrected). There are some interesting ground procedures associated with lo vis operations to ensure that the signal isn't corrupted or distorted by aircraft on the ground.

At a personal level, I met NZ38 from LHR/HKG last Sunday and if it hadn't been for the Cat III, it and a number of other flights would have been diverted to NZCH.

[Brian Wilkes]

About time

[Philip Argy]

Last time I suggested that Sydney should get Cat III, I was told that there was so much RF interference around Sydney it was hard to even maintain Cat I:

http://yssyforum.net/board/showpost....5&postcount=44

[Brenden S]

Perth should get one because we are so isolated aka QF A330 which landed when it wasnt supposed to.

[David M]

I don't think they should get Cat III!

Purely for my own selfish reasons! No more fog diversions into ADL!

David.M.

[Philip Argy]

We noticed that you DID enjoy your spotters' feast this week!

[Ray P.]

Originally Posted by David M

I don't think they should get Cat III!

Purely for my own selfish reasons! No more fog diversions into ADL!

David.M.

I'm with you David. Weather forecast for Melbourne on Sunday is for morning fog. Here's hoping. Best make sure I get to the airport.

[D Chan]

Originally Posted by Brenden S

Perth should get one because we are so isolated aka QF A330 which landed when it wasnt supposed to.

I think it is a real problem in Perth because there just isn't a lot of options in WA for big a/c.... especially the fog rolls in late and during the flight? If they fly as far down to Perth and then realise they can't land there, what other options are there?
Port Hedland, Carnavon, Learmouth, are there any suitable airfields for diversions? (mind you they'd have to fly north again to get there and that's if they have enough fuel)..

[Rhys Xanthis]

Remember they would more than likely require (at least from the airlines point of view) an international terminal to get the pax out of the plane if its to be an extended delay.

However, im not sure of the rules, they would probably divert to adelaide? if not enough fuel is on board, can intl planes stop just to refuel at domestic only airports (eg Port Headland)? maybe darwin if its early enough into the flight (probs go back to origin if its that soon though).

i think Broome would be an option too.