Posts about stuff relating to airports
Aerodrome Works Safety: Filling in the Gaps
Australia’s standards provide a good framework for managing the risks associated with aerodrome works, but they require significant and comprehensive digestion to understand them. This month, I’ve already touched on the challenges related to writing standards, and this topic showcases the style of regulation that sets some boundaries and parameters within which an aerodrome operator is expected to build a process.
In today’s post, I would like to share how I used to train aerodrome work safety officers (WSOs) on the management of aerodrome works.
Serious Incident Review: Aerodrome Closed Due Works
Not all aviation incidents are accidents, but they are all learning opportunities. This serious incident involving a larger private aircraft at a relatively quiet regional aerodrome builds on some of the lessons from yesterday’s post and helps me build towards tomorrow’s discussion on Australian aerodrome works safety standards. So, let’s discuss the day a Merlin took off from a closed runway at Gunnedah.
Navigating Vertiport Design Specifications
Just under four years ago, I wrote a primer on “Urban Air Mobility.” I had the best intentions in developing a series of articles on vertiport design concepts and standards. But I never did.
At the time, there was practically no data on aircraft performance nor any indication from regulators regarding how they would manage these new facilities. And I had no idea I would be part of a crack team developing Australian vertiport design, operations and certification standards. But here were are.
In this post, let’s take a moment to review the current state of play.
Is this Acceptable? When a runway strip isn't wide enough
This week, on Sunday, 14th January 2018, a Pegasus 737-800 veered off the runway at Trabzon, Turkey and came to rest on a steep slope quite close to the Black Sea. Obviously, it is way too early to speculate on the causes of the accident but as airport safety nerds, I think its okay for us to have a look at the role the runway strip played in this event. a few internet comments have questioned the compliance of the runway strip and it does look narrow. However, if Google Earth is to be believed, these comments and first thoughts might not be correct.
Making Decisions is Hard: How Long Must a RESA Be?
A couple of months ago, the New Zealand Court of Appeal handed down a judgement against the NZ Civil Aviation Authority's (CAA) assessment of Runway End Safety Area (RESA) requirements stemming from their own rules. While not everyone is in to reading court decisions and pulling apart regulations, I obviously am. As such, I thought I would save you the trouble and write about it here.
Header image from Karelj.
Alternative Vehicle Marking Options
While I'm not a fan, the Australian MOS 139 does permit the marking of vehicle operating on the manoeuvring area with a flag. I haven't seen one in the wild but this video caught my eye the other night.