Flying in Brazil can be dangerous to your health

Chock · 07-18-07, 03:05 PM

The two most useless things in aviation as they say: Runway that's behind you, and fuel that you didn't put in the tanks.

Sounds like a classic case of a wet runway of marginal length, and possibly the runway surface unable to cope with and sufficiently drain water. The runway in question is one that is well known in the world of commercial flying as being slightly dodgy, along with a few others around the world such as Las Palmas and Mexico City, to name but a couple.

When a runway at a regional airport in the UK was resurfaced last year and a couple of pilots complained about the surface being bad, it was redone the following week, but I guess in countries where civil aviation is notoriously underfunded, that's not an option.

Although it is true that the pilot has the option to divert and should legally have an alternate designated on his flight plan plus 45 minutes worth of fuel, in practice there is tremendous pressure from a pilot's employees for him not to do this kind of thing. Budget carriers being the worst afflicted in this respect, since their margins are small and their bosses want to get maximum hours out of their airframes without what they deem to be 'unecessary' positioning flights.

Chock

07-18-07, 03:05 PM	#5
Chock Sea Lord Join Date: May 2005 Location: Under a thermal layer in chilly Olde England Posts: 1,842 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	The two most useless things in aviation as they say: Runway that's behind you, and fuel that you didn't put in the tanks. Sounds like a classic case of a wet runway of marginal length, and possibly the runway surface unable to cope with and sufficiently drain water. The runway in question is one that is well known in the world of commercial flying as being slightly dodgy, along with a few others around the world such as Las Palmas and Mexico City, to name but a couple. When a runway at a regional airport in the UK was resurfaced last year and a couple of pilots complained about the surface being bad, it was redone the following week, but I guess in countries where civil aviation is notoriously underfunded, that's not an option. Although it is true that the pilot has the option to divert and should legally have an alternate designated on his flight plan plus 45 minutes worth of fuel, in practice there is tremendous pressure from a pilot's employees for him not to do this kind of thing. Budget carriers being the worst afflicted in this respect, since their margins are small and their bosses want to get maximum hours out of their airframes without what they deem to be 'unecessary' positioning flights. Chock __________________