Flight planning question

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MathijsH
Posts: 10
Joined: 08 Oct 2017, 10:37

Flight planning question

Post by MathijsH »

I always thought that a pilot needs to know before take-off that he can land at a certain airport. After the flight diversion I was on this week, I'm starting to second-guess this.

Does there need to be some kind of landing "clearance", adverse weather conditions aside, before taking off or can an aircraft take off and discover in the skies that the destination airport is closed because it's just too late?

Poiu
Posts: 897
Joined: 14 Nov 2015, 09:38

Re: Flight planning question

Post by Poiu »

MathijsH wrote: 13 Dec 2017, 20:53 I always thought that a pilot needs to know before take-off that he can land at a certain airport. After the flight diversion I was on this week, I'm starting to second-guess this.

Does there need to be some kind of landing "clearance", adverse weather conditions aside, before taking off or can an aircraft take off and discover in the skies that the destination airport is closed because it's just too late?
If the destination airport is expected to be below minima at estimated time of arrival you need fuel two cover two alternates with good weather.

jan_olieslagers
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Re: Flight planning question

Post by jan_olieslagers »

The destination aerodrome can be either "public" or "private". In this context, "private" does not necessarily mean "only for the owner/operator or her/his invited guests" - it only means "not public".

IF the destination aerodrome is "public", any pilot basically has the right to land there, however there are limiting factors:
* published operating hours. For example both EBAW and EBCI are public airports but they close at night, and the information is published in the AIP in great detail
* planned temporary closure can be announced per NOTAM, for example for runway maintenance
* non-planned closure (for example in case of extreme meteo, or the runway blocked by a landing mishap) can be announced last-minute, either over the radio or through the signal area.

So, for public aerodromes*, the answer is "yes, but...". For non-public aerodromes, the answer generally is "no" - most of them are under the regime of "Prior Permission Required" which means one has to contact them before taking off.

* and, at least here in EU, and likely elsewhere too, 99% of commercial air transport occurs between public aerodromes

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