9 November 2006

Runway lights out

| johnboy
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The ABC reports that the runway expansion at the Canberra Airport hasn’t had the desired effect with a cargo 747 once again buggering the lights on take-off.

That was worth the foulups all through winter wasn’t it?

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There was a plane come in last night at 1.15 am. clearly heading in to the airport.

Actually the 747 wasn’t a cargo it was a Saudi VIP aircraft. Canberra’s runway is wide enough and long enough to take 747’s without doing any damage, it was widend recently for that purpose but as someone else said there are works in progess and the wash from the outboard engines is what did the damage. They were expecting crap to be brought up onto the runway (as was the case years ago when 747’s came in) as they had the sweepers on standby.

it wasnt just that the lights were trashed, it was all the crap off the edge of the runway that blew into the air. flights were delayed by 45 minutes while the dust cloud settled.

Yep. When a man buys an airport, and says outright that the biggest attraction for him was the lack of a curfew, night flights are guaranteed.

He wants to service the region, and with the ability to bring in night flights, freight planes from Asia are a dead cert.

Vic, To answer your question the lights in question are the ones that run down either side of the runway. They are white in colour and sit above the ground around 15cm high. Jetblast from the engines has most likely blown them around hence the debris on the runway. From the reports I have been reading only a few lights were smashed and these were temporary lights in place until runway works are complete (works are not yet finished). Once they are permanently fixed to the ground it won’t be a problem.

The Russian freighter took off from the other end of the runway. The runway lights on that end of the runway are permanently fixed to the ground hence why it didn’t cause a problem.

I’m also very curious to know the last time the runway lights got damage because the last one I can remember was about 15 years ago when a Qantas 747 made a emergency landing on a then narrower runway.

Snow openly says he wants to become massive freight hub, with the Canberra advantage being that there is no curfew, so he could accept freight planes all through the night. (Which Sydney can’t).

I can’t really see it becoming a massive freight airport and replacing Sydney, so I wouldn’t be too concerned Seepi. Even the ‘Express’ (air) carriers just use overnight road freight direct from Mascot, have done for years, and it works. Why would they pay more for the privilege of bringing in such tiny amounts direct to Canberra? (believe me, there ain’t that much coming in – all up would usually fit onto one truck daily, excluding unusual shipments and extra extra long weekends like Easter.) Ditto for surrounding outer areas, not worth the expense for the miniscule (SFA) amount of business.

Then again, Snow has proved himself a fool with the Bland Depot debacle, so it wouldn’t surprise me if he tried…

Vic Bitterman11:47 pm 10 Nov 06

Your reply johnboy, although well meaning, explains nothing.

To my feeble mind at least.

Are these lights flush mounted? Sitting proud of the surface? Did they get squashed by a wheel? Are they green? Red? White? What are they supposed to illuminate?

So many questions, so little time!

it’s debris from the engine wash, you need a particularly wide runway to avoid it.

Vic Bitterman10:59 pm 09 Nov 06

So does anyone know what these runway ‘lights’ look like, and why a 747 can clobber them??????

less goods coming down the hume highway, more efficient movement of goods in general if it works.

How will it bring less traffic?
Won’t we just get more trucks, as they cart all this frieght around NSW from the Canberra Airport hub Snow envisages replacing Sydney airport for freight.

Nope, more noise and more traffic. Look at what Snow has done so far, and there’s more and bigger and better to come.

A crap “factory outlet” centre (factory outlets my arse), gridlocked traffic every morning, and the Brindabella people get to do it all again in the afternoon too. Civic-style parking charges to park in an empty paddock. and on and on.

One thing with planes landing on that runway, they still drift for ages above it before they put their wheels down (and the epuff of smoke goes up). I wonder why they do that?

Cheaper goods?

Less road traffic?

Is there any benefit for Canberra in us becoming a massive freight airport? The Snow family will make a motza, meanwhile we get more noise and more traffic.

Has someone got a thingy that looks like a stapler; or is it a stapler that looks like a thingy? 🙂

So stapler is what you call it? hehee

Haywood Jablowme2:37 pm 09 Nov 06

I like how you call it your ‘stapler’. I’ve heard of other people that have pet names for theirs as well.

That reminds me of this one guy who i work with that spends his afternoons checking out the construction happening outside our building

isn’t that what public servants do ?
i spend the morning playnig with the stapler, and the afternoon looking out the window.
I only do it that way cause the sun rising in the morning upsets me.

It could be worse Andy / Haywood – You could have to drive out to BBP each day to only sit down and do nothing all day.

ahh haywood… i’m just hangin for all the road changes.. it’s really gonna make it fun..
(actrually, i think i’d rather be here than civic)

depends. It’s not all government.
However, I will put it this way.
not counting the big Qantas DEfence Services hanger, the buildings on the far side from Brand Depot closest to the runway belong to a Govt agency.
In fact, they are building a special “sky bridge” because this agency will not allow their documents to be taken outside of the building…
There’s also been a large influx of what I like to call “magic eyes” surrounding those buildings.

If a plane does go wrong and into a building then which govt dept will be looking for some new staff?

Haywood Jablowme12:10 pm 09 Nov 06

Isn’t it fun working at Brindabella Park!

Swaggie – Yes, its a multi story carpark they are building. And its causing major hassles for people who work here.

CouldExpire – no, its not for longstay. Its for the business park. If you are parked there after 11pm, they’ll likely give you a ticket.

Roccon – when a plane needs to emergency land cause they get it wrong, rest assured I’ll be posting it all on RA as it plows into my building.

bland it is!

Growling Ferret10:58 am 09 Nov 06

Room for an emergency landing? I wouldn’t go shopping at Brand Depot on a foggy day…

(completely ignoring the fact I wouldn’t go shopping at Bland Depot any day, but that’s another issue)

with all the construction around the airport, is there enough runoff room for a plane to emergency land, or get it slightly wrong when landing in fog etc

I hope its a multi storey carpark for longstay parking… Parking in longstay recently was a nightmare, very lucky to have gotten a park at all!

Of the two I know which was bigger and it wasn’t the short 747. The runway lights that broke were only temporary ones until the runway work is finished – the runway is a “work in progress’ for another few months apparently. PS Anyone else notice the new Multi Storey car park going up there – at least I assume it’s a multi storey car park.

just pure speculation but the Antonov could well be built for dodgier strips.

Does this mean they had no problems with the big fat Ukrainian bird but the big fat Yankee birds are a problem.

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