Ask The Pilot

[Mrmrbagley]

Hi there.
I was on the longest REX flight of my life this week from Sydney to Broken Hil, over 5.5hours! The Dubbo to Broken Hill portion took 4.5hrs as after a failed approach due to low cloud and poor visibility we circled in the air for over 2 hours waiting for conditions to improve. There were 2 other Qantas planes circling above us including QF2017, a Dash 8 400. We eventually did land. We actually heard QF2017 approach to land just after us but it aborted and both Qantas flights immediately then diverted to Mildura.
I would love to ask two questions. Besides fuel are there any other restrictions to how long you can circle prior to attempting landing?
Also I was surprised that the larger Dash 8 planes did not land when our little Rexy SAAB340 managed to. Do you need greater visibility for larger planes?
Thanks

 

[jb747]

JB, which aircraft autopilot handled the crosswind/gusty/high wind approaches better. Airbus or Boeing? And any specific model?

Overall the A380 (I expect the A350 would be much the same, with the 330 and 320 being a bit less capable). The 747 was appreciably better than the 767.

But, the (wind/gust/crosswindlimits of the autopilot coupled landings were less than those for a manual landing, so when it's really nasty, you have to do the last bit yourself. And if I had to manually fly...then the 767.

 

[jb747]

Hi there.
I was on the longest REX flight of my life this week from Sydney to Broken Hil, over 5.5hours! The Dubbo to Broken Hill portion took 4.5hrs as after a failed approach due to low cloud and poor visibility we circled in the air for over 2 hours waiting for conditions to improve. There were 2 other Qantas planes circling above us including QF2017, a Dash 8 400. We eventually did land. We actually heard QF2017 approach to land just after us but it aborted and both Qantas flights immediately then diverted to Mildura.

I would love to ask two questions. Besides fuel are there any other restrictions to how long you can circle prior to attempting landing?

In many ways fuel is everything. Things like flight time limits come into the equation, but assuming you have the gas, nothing really stops you from holding for hours. Other than boredom.

The equation is never as simple as it seems though. For instance, the destination may not have required an alternate, but simply an amount of holding fuel. In that case, once you've flown past the decision point, you have no alternative other than landing, with the only variable being the amount of holding that you do beforehand. The larger Dash 8s may have had sufficient fuel for both holding and diversion.

Also I was surprised that the larger Dash 8 planes did not land when our little Rexy SAAB340 managed to. Do you need greater visibility for larger planes?

There are speed based approach criteria, but I think the Saab and the Dash are both Cat 3, so not relevant here.