Select the runway for take-off and landing[PDF]
Contents
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Regulation
- 3 Runway selection criteria
- 4 How to select runway : method
- 4.1 Selection order for a runway
- 4.2 Use of the published IFR runway (or usual runway)
- 4.3 Use of runway with an IFR precision approach (ILS type)
- 4.4 Use of runway with a non-precision IFR approach
- 4.5 Use of runway with visual approach
- 4.6 VFR only airfield
- 4.7 Special VFR conditions
- 4.8 IMC conditions
- 5 See also
- 6 Reference
- 7 Author
Introduction
This documentation is made to help air traffic controllers and pilots in non-controlled areas to select the best runway for landing and taking-off.
Data source
Before any decision is made, you must have:
- All aeronautics charts of your airfield VFR, IFR (IAC, ARR, DEP…)
- Last METAR of the selected airfield or nearest airfield (if not available for the selected airfield)
- Last TAF of the selected airfield if existing
What do the documents tell
Sometimes constraints are published on charts. You must read all the charts and take these constraints into account:
- Preferred landing runway
- Preferred take-off runway (especially if different from the landing runway)
- Preferred runway to open under special circumstances (night, heavy, low visibility, noise)
- Runway with or without precision approach procedure (like ILS approach)
- Runway with or without non-precision approach procedure (like VOR, NDB approach)
- Landing minima (weather)
Regulation
- Surface winds and direction
- The aerodrome traffic circuit layout
- The length of the runway
- Approach landing aids available
- Noise abatement procedure in use
Noise abatement shall not be a determining factor in runway nomination under the following conditions:
- If the runway surface conditions are adversely affected ( snow, slush, ice, water, mud, oil…)
- For landing in conditions, when the ceiling is lower than 500ft (150m) above the elevation, or visibility is less than 1900m
- When the approach requires a vertical minimum height greater than 300ft (100m) above aerodrome elevation, and the ceiling is lower than 800ft (240m) or visibility is less than 3000m
- For take-off when the visibility is less than 1900m
- When wind shear has been reported or forecast or when thunderstorms are expected to affect the approach or departure
- When crosswind component, including gusts, exceeds 15KT (28km/h), or the tailwind component, including gusts, exceeds 5kt (9km/h)
Runway selection criteria
We start to study the different criteria. The most important parameter to take into account is the wind.
Wind direction
The wind near the runway is given by the METAR information. The wind group is 5 digits ending with KT or MPS:
- First 3 digits represent the heading of the aircraft which has the wind in front
- Last 2 digits represent the wind speed
- KT or MPS is the unit of the wind speed: KT =knot; MPS =meter per second.
In order to understand the headwind calculation, please read this article.
Example:
METAR 262100Z 27007KT CAVOK 08/03 Q1023 NOSIG
The winds come from 270°, speed is 7 knots.
Weather minima
Ceiling in METAR is the lowest group BKN or OVC followed by 3 digits. The 3 digits are the height in hundreds of feet of the cloud base level.
Example: METAR 262100Z 27007KT 8000 FEW005 OVC012 BKN044 FEW095 08/03 Q1023 NOSIG
Ceiling is the group OVC012 (the lowest group with OVC or BKN)
Height = 012 * 100 = 1200 ft
Published runway use recommendation
Sometimes, at some airfields, the runway in use recommendation is published.
The runway recommendation criteria can be:
- Preferential runway (general)
- Preferential runway during night operation
- Preferential runway due to ground landmark or obstacle
- Preferential runway for noise reduction procedure
- Preferential runway due to activation or presence of restricted areas
- Preferential runway due to dual runway available
- Preferential runway for a reduction of flight time for arrivals and/or departures
- Preferential runway for a reduction of taxi time for arrivals and/or departures
- Specialized runway within a doublet runway
- Specialized runway dedicated for landing
- Specialized runway dedicated for take-off
- Runway restriction for a specific aircraft category (A,B,C,D)
IFR published approach on runway available
At some airfields, there is no IFR approach published for one or several runways, or an IFR approach is published only for one side of a runway.
Preliminary criteria to check
You must check:
- Approach aircraft category must be compatible with the charts publication
- Runway is not closed on charts (or NOTAM when applicable)
- No land mark obstacles are present
Headwind, tailwind and crosswind calculation
The wind flow does not follow the runway axis all the time. It often comes from the left or the right.
The wind flow can be taken from the METAR information.
There are 2 parts in a wind flow:
- a headwind blows against the direction of travel or a tailwind blows in the same direction of travel
- a cross wind blows using perpendicular direction of travel (from the left or from the right)
See example below:
Consult the Crosswind and Headwind calculation article in order to obtain the requested knowledge to continue this article.
How to select runway : method
Selection order for a runway
The selection order to choose a runway outside any weather parameter is:
- Select a published preferred IFR runway or usual runway known as a real usage
- Select a runway with precision IFR approach (like ILS)
- Select a runway with a non-precision IFR approach at least
- Other runway with visual approach minima published for IFR flights
Use of the published IFR runway (or usual runway)
If a preferred runway is published or, if it is a runway usually used in real aviation, this runway can be selected as the main landing runway. The table below can help you to decide if you can select this runway.
Ceiling is | Compatible with minimum one published IFR approach | Compatible with minimum one published IFR approach | Compatible with minimum one published IFR approach | Compatible with minimum one published IFR approach | Not compatible with any IFR approach |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Wind direction is | Headwind > 0 KT or wind = 0 KT |
Tailwind < 6 KT |
6 KT< Tailwind <15 KT |
Tailwind >15 KT |
All winds configuration
|
Can this runway be opened? | Yes |
Possible |
Analysis |
No |
No
|
Notes:
Yes: means that this runway can be opened with no restrictions for IFR.Possible: means that this runway can be opened without ceiling restriction but with presence of light tailwind for the pilot.Analysis: means that an analysis must be done by ATC to check if another runway can be selected or not according to the current weather and chart publications.No: means that this runway cannot be selected and is not usable with present conditions; check other chapters in order to select your runway configuration in function of IFR approach types.
- Tailwind is greater than 6 KT for Light aircraft category
- Tailwind is greater than 8 KT for Medium and Heavy aircraft category
Use of runway with an IFR precision approach (ILS type)
If a runway has a precision approach published (example ILS), this runway can be selected as the main landing runway. The table below can help you to decide if you can select this runway.
Ceiling is | Compatible with precision approach minima | Compatible with precision approach minima | Compatible with precision approach minima | Compatible with precision approach minima | Not Compatible with precision approach minima |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Wind direction is | Headwind > 0 KT or wind = 0 KT |
Tailwind < 6 KT |
6 KT< Tailwind <15 KT |
Tailwind >15 KT |
All winds configuration
|
Can this runway be opened? | Yes |
Possible |
Analysis |
No |
No
|
Notes:
Yes: means that this runway can be opened with no restrictions for IFR.Possible: means that this runway can be opened without ceiling restriction but with presence of light tailwind for the pilot.Analysis: means that an analysis must be done by ATC to check if another runway can be selected or not according to the current weather and chart publications.No: means that this runway cannot be selected and is not usable with present conditions.
- Tailwind is greater than 6 KT for Light aircraft category
- Tailwind is greater than 8 KT for Medium and Heavy aircraft category
Use of runway with a non-precision IFR approach
A classical approach can be a VOR, NDB, RNAV non-precision approach. The table below can help you to decide if you can select this runway.
Ceiling is | Compatible with one IFR approach minima | Compatible with one IFR approach minima | Compatible with one IFR approach minima | Compatible with one IFR approach minima | Not Compatible with one IFR approach minima |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Wind direction is | Headwind > 0 KT or wind = 0 KT |
Tailwind < 6 KT |
6 KT< Tailwind <15 KT |
Tailwind >15 KT |
All winds configuration
|
Can this runway be opened? | Yes |
Possible |
Analysis |
No |
No
|
Notes:
Yes: means that this runway can be opened with no restrictions for IFR.Possible: means that this runway can be opened without ceiling restriction but with presence of light tailwind for the pilot.Analysis: means that an analysis must be done by ATC to check if another runway can be selected or not according to the current weather and chart publications.No: means that this runway cannot be selected and is not usable with present conditions.
- Tailwind is greater than 6 KT for Light aircraft category
- Tailwind is greater than 8 KT for Medium and Heavy aircraft category
Use of runway with visual approach
If you select a runway with only visual approach with or without prescribed tracks, the pilot shall perform an IFR approach using another runway before switching to a visual approach of the selected runway at the minima or at the aerodrome circuit altitude. The table below can help you to decide if you can select this runway.
Ceiling is | Compatible with visual approach minima | Compatible with visual approach minima | Compatible with visual approach minima | Compatible with visual approach minima | Not Compatible with visual approach minima |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Wind direction is | Headwind > 0 KT or wind = 0 KT |
Tailwind < 6 KT |
6 KT< Tailwind <15 KT |
Tailwind >15 KT |
All winds configuration
|
Can this runway be opened? | Yes |
Possible |
Disadvantageous |
No |
No
|
Notes:
Yes: means that this runway can be opened with no restrictions for IFR.Possible: means that this runway can be opened without ceiling restriction but with presence of light tailwind for the pilot.Disadvantageous: means that configuration is not really good for incoming aircraft. If you have a better solution, use it!No: means that this runway cannot be selected and is not usable with present conditions.
VFR only airfield
In the case of a VFR only airfield. These tables below can help you to decide if you can select this runway.
Ceiling is Visibility is |
C>1500ft and V>5000m |
C>1500ft and V>5000m |
C>1500ft and V>5000m |
C>1500ft and V>5000m |
---|---|---|---|---|
Wind direction is | Headwind >= 0 KT |
Tailwind < 6 KT |
6 KT< Tailwind <15 KT |
Tailwind >15 KT
|
Can this runway be opened? | Yes |
Possible |
Disadvantageous |
No
|
Special VFR conditions
The minima of ceiling or visibility can be different with regards to your national regulations. The values given are typical.
Ceiling is Visibility is |
1500ft > C > 1000ft or 5000m > V > 1500m |
1500ft > C > 1000ft or 5000m > V > 1500m |
1500ft > C > 1000ft or 5000m > V > 1500m |
1500ft > C > 1000ft or 5000m > V > 1500m |
---|---|---|---|---|
Wind direction is | Headwind >= 0 KT |
Tailwind < 6 KT |
6 KT< Tailwind <15 KT |
Tailwind >15 KT
|
Can this runway be opened? | Yes for special VFR only |
Possible for special VFR only |
Disadvantageous for special VFR only |
No
|
IMC conditions
Ceiling is Visibility is |
C < 1000ft or V < 1500m |
C < 1000ft or V < 1500m |
C < 1000ft or V < 1500m |
C < 1000ft or V < 1500m |
---|---|---|---|---|
Wind direction is | Headwind >= 0 KT |
Tailwind < 6 KT |
6 KT< Tailwind <15 KT |
Tailwind >15 KT
|
Can this runway be opened? | No |
No |
No |
No
|
See also
Reference
- ICAO Documentation 4444 - Air Traffic Management - 16th Edition 2016 - Chapter 7.2
Author
- VID 150259 - Creation
- VID 150259 - Wiki integration
DATE OF SUBMISSION
- 17:09, 28 February 2022
COPYRIGHT
- This documentation is copyrighted as part of the intellectual property of the International Virtual Aviation Organisation.
DISCLAIMER
- The content of this documentation is intended for aviation simulation only and must not be used for real aviation operations.