landing a plane in fog

[hammerman]

Any pilots out there ? Just wondered why there are lots of delays when the airport is covered in fog yet a pilot might not be able to see the runway until the last minute in low cloud but the airport is not affected.

Hope the question makes sense !!!

HM

[webbo3]

Clannad should be able to help with this as he is a pilot.


Dave.

[Buenchico]

This was largely answered by a pilot who phoned into Radio 2 last week. Many of the delays come about because the control tower staff can't see the aircraft (and service vehicles) on the runways, taxiways and aprons, so that all land-based operations at the airport are brought to a crawl.

Chris

[boxtops]

We've just flown back from Scotland - on the way out, there was a risk that we'd be diverted to Southampton as the fog was thick in Kent. The pilots should get in with technology but the ground staff can't risk it.

[hammerman]

I was wondering that Chris. Most commercial planes should be able to land themselves in zero visibility....but once they're on the ground, taxi'ing (sp ?) could be a problem in fog

[gadgetgeek]

In a nutshell whilst in the air the spacing between aircraft is greatly increased in reduced visibility. ATC n radar can go wrong etc. On the ground it is very difficult to taxi around in low viz at an airfield. All this combined leads to less aircraft being able to be on the move safely and hence delays and cancellations.

[gadgetgeek]

Yep yr right it did then, but less safety regs were in place, aircraft were smaller and a lot lighter! Problem with the snow is that not only does the runway have to be snow and ice free but so do the taxi ways and stands. The snow can't be piled up to the side for the most part due to the height of the snow pile plus as the aircraft passed the jet blast recovers the taxi way with the blown about snow! Other airports have a lot of snow and can deal with it due having correct equipment and airport layout. Heathrow etc doesn't have the lay out but this year has the equipment.....so long as the staff can get in to operate it!!!

[237SJ]

At the risk of being seen as a plane spotter - delays during fog are caused by the fact that radar can`t see anything close to the ground so the rate that aircraft can taxi is slowed to avoid collisions (as in the Tenerife disaster). Aeroplanes can land in zero visability (known as a Category 3 landing) if they have that capability and if the airport can support catagory 3 landings. We landed in really thick fog last week on a Cat 3 landing. The ironic thing is, Cat 3 landings can be smoother than manual ones sometimes.