Winter flying in Europe - Alternate airports?
Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2010 9:20 amG'day guys,
As an Aussie, this question is a bit foreign to me.
As an Aussie, this question is a bit foreign to me.
For the big tubes, usually the dispatcher who plans the flight picks the alternates. It will often depend on weather at any approved alternates and many other factors. I once was on a 757 that diverted from Denver to Grand Junction because of weather, which seemed odd at the time. We even had a situation recently here where an aircraft went missed here, could not even shoot the approach at the alternate, and the pilot and dispatcher spent a few feverish minutes trying to decide what to do next, since fuel is not a replenishable resource.
In real life, the airlines are not allowed to even fly the approach, unless the reported weather is at or above minimums for that approach. A standard ILS is usually 200 feet and 1/4 mile.