No rwy lights, AEagle diverts

RotorAndWing said:
What's odd about it? Night, no runway lights, no landing. :dunno:
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Maybe the available lit runway right beside the unlit runway makes it odd? It was clearly noted in the article...
 
RotorAndWing said:
What's odd about it? Night, no runway lights, no landing. :dunno:
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That's what I initially thought, too. But reading the article, there was a lit 10,000 foot runway parallel to the unlit one... that, and they were maybe using the wrong frequency for the PCL. I guess AE will sort it out...
 
I know that at SPS the airlines routinely use only one runway. They may not have performance data for the other runway, or they may have been concerned about other obstructions. They may have been concerned the arresting gear was up on the other runway, etc.
 
TUPilot said:
I know that at SPS the airlines routinely use only one runway. They may not have performance data for the other runway, or they may have been concerned about other obstructions. They may have been concerned the arresting gear was up on the other runway, etc.
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Yep. One possible scenario is he didn't have the landing data for that runway, or it wasn't in their OpSpecs.
 
What was the wx? Possible that the weather was below circling mins and the unlit runway was the only one with an approach.
 
Does the other runway fulfill the ARFF response time requirements ?

How does the AE pilot know whether the AF is doing night-time maintenance on the other runway (or whether arresting gear is raised) ?
 
weilke said:
Does the other runway fulfill the ARFF response time requirements ?
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I think the news report is wrong; see what I mentioned about only one lit runway when twr is closed.
How does the AE pilot know whether the AF is doing night-time maintenance on the other runway (or whether arresting gear is raised) ?
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Notams? (I see nothing right now)
 
Dave, there are actually two lit runways when the tower is closed, 33L/15R and 33C/15C. At least that's the way I read it.

It confuses me that the "Wichita Falls officials" first accused the pilot of trying to key-up the lights on the wrong freq when apparently they are not PCL. This assumes accurate reporting...yeah...I know...
 
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Let'sgoflying! said:
I think the news report is wrong; see what I mentioned about only one lit runway when twr is closed.
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Some airports have one or more runways designated as 'air carrier runway'. It means that someone went through the planning exercise to show that the ARFF truck can reach the center of that runway within 3minutes of dispatch. It doesn't mean that the trucks couldn't reach the other runways in the same time, it just means that someone has put it on paper. If the runway hasn't been designated as such, it might as well not exist for airline purposes.
 
Airport remarks from the A/FD:
"When twr clsd ACTIVATE MALSR Rwy 33L—CTAF. Rwys 17–35 and 15L–33R are unlgtd."


edit: D'oh! Dave beat me to it.
 
Matthew said:
Airport remarks from the A/FD:
"When twr clsd ACTIVATE MALSR Rwy 33L—CTAF. Rwys 17–35 and 15L–33R are unlgtd."


edit: D'oh! Dave beat me to it.
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But that doesn't include the runway lights correct? The runway lights are on all night as are the runway lights on 15C-35C. At least that's the way I interpret it.
 
RotorAndWing said:
Yep. One possible scenario is he didn't have the landing data for that runway, or it wasn't in their OpSpecs.
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That's my guess as well since of the three runways, only one is a public runway, the other 2 are military training runways that aren't even part of the control tower's purvue. At least that's how it was when I was flying out of the area.

Airline pilots can't just plop a plane on any runway and not risk being called to the carpet over it. He didn't want to take a chance.
 
Henning said:
That's my guess as well since of the three runways, only one is a public runway, the other 2 are military training runways that aren't even part of the control tower's purvue. At least that's how it was when I was flying out of the area.
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There are four runways.

One was NOTAMed closed (the main/largest runway).

Two more are unlit after the tower closes according to the AFD.

That leaves exactly one runway available and its lights weren't on, and wouldn't come on.

He had no other option --- if all the information is accurate --- which is always suspect this early in the game.
 
timwinters said:
There are four runways.

One was NOTAMed closed (the main/largest runway).

Two more are unlit after the tower closes according to the AFD.

That leaves exactly one runway available and its lights weren't on, and wouldn't come on.

He had no other option --- if all the information is accurate --- which is always suspect this early in the game.
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Wow, shows how long it's been since I've flown there.:lol: They build another runway since. So I guess the new one is the one the lights wouldn't come on, and the old municipal is the one that's notam'd closed. The other 2 are (were) the T-37 and T-38 runways. Given those conditions, I don't see where he had the option to land short of an emergency without risking the carpet dance.:dunno:
 
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Henning said:
Wow, shows how long it's been since I've flown there.:lol: They build another runway since. So I guess the new one is the one the lights wouldn't come on, and the old municipal is the one that's notam'd closed. The other 2 are (were) the T-37 and T-38 runways. Given those conditions, I don't see where he had the option to land short of an emergency without risking the carpet dance.:dunno:
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Now T-6 II.
 
Runway 17/35 has been closed and under construction for well over a year.
Runway 15C/33C is also available to civilian traffic, and is used whenever 15R/33L is closed, which it's been quite often lately... It was the last time I was there a few weeks ago.
 
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