LONDON AIRPORTS

Have you ever wondered how many Londonian airports have been built since the 1900s? Here is one of the best videos I have seen about this topic. It is one of a series produced by the comedian Jay Foreman. Thanks to this great source of information, you can have the answer as well as some fun.

Another interesting video tells us the train options to connect the six London airports to the City of London:

As you can see, it may cost an arm and a leg to travel to London. However, London airport system is the busiest one in the world. It demands a lot of concentration from its air traffic controllers as shown in this previous post: https://airforces.fr/2016/06/25/london-air-traffic-well-explained/

Facebooktwitterlinkedinmail

LONDON AIR TRAFFIC WELL EXPLAINED

Here is a remarkable video for training purpose. It is not easy to understand how air traffic is managed at Heathrow airport but this video helps a lot to make out the stakes:
Voici une vidéo remarquable à but pédagogique. Il n’est pas facile de comprendre comment la circulation aérienne est gérée à l’aéroport de Heathrow mais cette vidéo est d’une grande aide pour comprendre les enjeux:

Note that there are four stacks in the vicinity of London. The word « stack » means « holding pattern » here. However, stack can mean another thing in aeronautical and general English. For instance:

Notez qu’il y a quatre « stacks » aux environs de Londres. Le mot « stack » signifie ici « circuit d’attente ». Cependant, stack peut vouloir dire autre chose en anglais aéronautique et général. Par exemple:

  • Stack of folders = Pile de dossiers
  • Smokestack = Cheminée d’usine
  • Hay stack = Botte de foin, meule de foin
  • Radio stack = Equipement radio à bord de l’avion (radio com, radio nav, transponder)
  • Wood stack = Tas de bois
  • Stack up / Stack down = Espacement décalé vers le haut ou vers le bas entre des avions de chasse ou d’acrobaties aérienne
  • Vent stack = Colonne de ventilation
  • To stack = Empiler, entasser
  • Stack = Circuit d’attente dans l’espace aérien londonien pour les avions à destination d’Heathrow

Note that easterly operations match westerly winds, and westerly operations match easterly winds.

Notez que les opérations d’est correspondent aux vents d’ouest, et que les opérations d’ouest correspondent aux vents d’est.

 

Facebooktwitterlinkedinmail

FLIGHT LEVEL SEPARATION AND MAGNETIC TRACK

cours anglais aviation Toni Giacoia FCL .055 OACI en ligne à distance

Cours d’anglais aéronautique sur FCL ANGLAIS

Here are two very useful videos about the semi-circular rule. The first one is in English, the second one in French:

 

 

Pour la seconde vidéo, on peut ajouter que si les niveaux de vol 55, 75 et 85 (pour les routes magnétiques vers l’est) sont valables en VFR (régime de vol à vue), on devra emrunter en vol IFR (vol aux instruments) les niveaux de vol 50, 70, 80 et 90 par exemple. C’est à dire qu’en IFR on n’utilise pas les niveaux de vol se terminant par 5 mais par 0 et cela est valable pour les routes magnétiques allant vers l’ouest (FL 80, FL 90, etc). La règle semi-circulaire est utile aussi pour le module NRS (Navigation, Réglementation et Sécurité des vols) au BIA-CAEA. D’autres informations très intéressantes sont disponibles sur ces chaines Youtube:

ERA FLUG

CHEZ GLIGLI

Facebooktwitterlinkedinmail

LANDING – HOW DIFFICULT IT CAN BE…

cours anglais aviation Toni Giacoia FCL .055 OACI en ligne à distance

Cours d’anglais aéronautique sur FCL ANGLAIS

WarningThis voice communication does not comply with the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) recommendations. However, you can click off, and listen without reading the script on this video in order to jot down this radio communication for listening training purpose:

 

 

Waterbury-Oxford Airport Map

 

Click on the map above to enlarge. (U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration courtesy via Wikimedia)

 

These things happen.

  1. Bearing reported with a ninety-degree error, then corrected;
  2. Uncertainty of the downwind leg;
  3. Traffic not in sight;
  4. Uncertainty as to which airport is in sight;
  5. Requests are said again;
  6. Another airport in the vicinity with same runway configuration;
  7. Traffic off course;
  8. Within half a mile, no traffic in sight, and no radar tracking;
  9. Pilot cannot hear at times or does not reply;
  10. Confusion between ident and squawk;
  11. Pilot does not know how to use the transponder;
  12. Uncertainty of the type of aircraft, then corrected.

Landings may be difficult at times, indeed…

Facebooktwitterlinkedinmail

TOP 10 DANGEROUS AIRFIELDS

Here are the ten most dangerous airports in the world (some of them closed down, or they were upgraded):

  1. Lukla airport, or Tenzing-Hillary Airport (IATA: LUA, ICAO: VNLK) in Nepal. Located at 2,860 meters above sea level. Its 460-meter long runway has a slope at a 12 percent incline, facing a steep, sloping Himalayan valley is probably the most dangerous airfields in the world. A few photos of Lukla, and videos were posted on the blog « PASSION POUR L’AVIATION » about three, and two years ago ===> Lukla au Népal : 2860m d’altitude & a Dornier Do 228 landing at Lukla airport: Lukla au Népal : atterrissage long d’un Do228 de Sita Air
  2. Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport (IATA: SAB, ICAO: TNCS) on the island of Saba, in the Netherlands Antilles is located on a small plateau above the Caribbean Sea. Its runway is very short – 400 meters long.
  3. Saint Barths airport (link to AIP approach map) or Gustaf III Airport (IATA: SBH, ICAO: TFFJ) is located on the Caribbean island of Saint Barthélemy, France.
  4. Toncontin International Airport (IATA: TGU, ICAO: MHTG) or Teniente Coronel Hernan Acosta Mejia Airport – at one thousand metres altitude – is located in a hollow on the outskirts of Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Its 2,021-meter long runway – even though it was extended in 2009 as it was 1,863 metres long only – is one of the shortest ones among the international airports. A very dangerous hillside at the end of the runway was removed in 2009 too. This airport was ranked second in this top 10 before.
  5. Courchevel Airport or Altiport (IATA: CVF – ICAO: LFLJ) is an airfield that serves Courchevel, a ski resort in the French Alps. Its 525-metre long runway has a slope at an 18.5 percent incline. There is no ILS, and no go-around procedure. Courchevel is a difficult approach as ski runs are in the vicinity of its upslope runway. Moreover, the airport’s elevation is at 2,008 metres (6,588 ft).
  6. Gibraltar International Airport or North Front Airport (IATA: GIB, ICAO: LXGB) is located in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar, and belongs to the UK Ministry of Defence though it is a civilian airport too. There are around 3,000 aircraft movements per year. The main road intersects the airport runway, and the road traffic is stopped whenever an airplane takes off, or lands.
  7. Hong Kong Kai Tak International Airport (IATA: HKG, ICAO: VHHH) was an international airport until 1998. It was shut down, and then replaced by the new Hong Kong International Airport at Chek Lap Kok, 30 km to the west. There are mountains, and skyscrapers to the north of Kai Tak Airport, and its runway faces the ocean. Landing on this runway is particularly difficult.
  8. Los Roques Airport, or Aeropuerto Los Roques, in Spanish (IATA: LRV, ICAO: SVRS). It is a domestic airport with a one-kilometre long runway on the El Gran Roque island, Venezuela.
  9. Saint Maarten International Airport (IATA: SXM, ICAO: TNCM) (also known as Princess Juliana International Airport) is located on the Dutch part of the island of Saint Martin. Viral videos, and pictures are regularly posted on the Web as the runway threshold is only a few meters from the beach, and tourists can feel the turbulence, and even the blast of heavy aircraft when they land, or take off.
  10. Madeira Airport (IATA: FNC, ICAO: LPMA), or Funchal Airport (as Funchal is the name of the nearest cathedral), is an international airport in Santa Catarina, Santa Cruz, Madeira, Portugal. Its two runways are a bit short, and surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, and mountains.

Watch the video:

Facebooktwitterlinkedinmail