In these daysíAs one of the main topics talked about on social networks is the wind in the Quito airport – Tababela, but ¿thaté The airport is so dangerous these months or the rest of the year.ñO?
*This post was reviewed by staff atéprisoner of Ecuador before its publicationón.
It is already known in Quito, either in the new airport or in the old Mariscal Sucre, that the summer winds become extremely strong between June and until mid-September, what is known as the summer season or dry season in the Ecuadorian highlands.
These strong winds are normal in these months, and for those who live in Quito or visit the city in this éIt's no surprise that cold windíor and strong that characterizes it.
Of course, in the úlast toñyou caníto say that the weather has become más variable, be it because of what many know as climate changeáethical or by normal situations of nature.
Now, on the topic aeroáutico which is what interests us, you have to be direct and say yesí, Quito Airport suffers from these winds (which is no surprise to anyone), but aggravated by the orographyíin which it has been settled for now 5 años.
Independent of the old or new airport, the hayóless wind, affects the habríhas affected both in the same way, but the difference isá en la situationón geográfica where the current Mariscal Sucre was built.
In these líWe won't talk about whether it was the best place to do it., if there were other options or if it was dueó keep the old airport, that's up to your discretionón of each of the readers of these lídenies, but whatever the case, the new contó with all the necessary case studies to support its constructionón, both in himíneas téoperational and security techniques.
¿It's a dangerous airport?
Whether due to the winds or the situationón geográfica, the airport is not dangerous, but yesí we have to be honest, it is a complex airport, like all high-altitude airports or known as hot & world high.
Sí, it's difficultíeasy and has additional complexities than other airports of this natureístatic, but it also hasén very favorable advantages when compared with for example, the old airport.
A maneuver area más wide, a runway located at a lower altitude, ILS system on both runways, VOR instrument procedures, ILS and RNAV 18/36 and his track 4.090 meters long make this complex airport have excellent facilities for navigation.ón and security aérea.
This difficulty arises from the orographyíwhat was talked aboutó máit arrives. In the surroundings of the airport there are endless streams, which cause to be generated descending winds or wind shear más followed those who alsoéThey were passing at the old airport.
Additional to descending winds, there is influence of the eastern mountain range, that produce crosswinds and that together with the summer winds of the sierra, generates concentrationón of 3 different variables, that undoubtedly test the national and international pilots who fly daily to Quito.
These variables, generate that in short periods of time, tell us so muchón as the speed of the wind, suddenly change, what generates acquaintances «engine and air» or missed approaches.
You have to remember that the pilotos isán highly trained and skilled to deal with all these types of events that affect the normality of a flight, but it does not compromise security. In the cabin, the pilots have to continue evenámeters of approximationón strict and in case wind changes were affected, Startán for security, an approximationón frustrated.
Definitely, the winds in certain cases, can potentially generate situationsádelicate s on a flight, but alsoén current aircraft areán designñto alert the crewón and face them properly.
All conditions explained hereí triggerán máIt's a scare, strong turbulence, missed approaches or landings, but rest assured that the entire aviation industryóEcuadorian and world, Eastá highly prepared to maintain security in these situations.
high altitude airports
A height field is considered, usually, to those airports that are on the 8.000 pies o 2.438 meters high (the current Mariscal Sucre of Quito is located 7.910 pies o 2.411 meters).
La operationón in height always bringá to the airílines and pilots additional complexity factors, but it isán ready for this. Flying at altitude involves for example, the power of the engines is diminishedún decreases the pressureón atmosphereérica, use of slats and flaps and even in some airports the pilots make the approachón con máoxygen scars.
High altitude airports will always haveán its particularities. Bogotaá, Peace, Cusco and others, but comparing them is not relevant, since each one will haveá their own complications due to dónde isán located, its climate and others, but yesí allows us to point out that Quito is not the úonly airport that experiences situations like thisí.
airports, planes and the wind
Nor is the Quito Airport comparable due to the particularities mentioned above with other airports in the world where the wind isún más strong.
For instance, There have been cases in Las Vegas where the wind has exceeded the rámake of 65 knots and in Quito it has not exceeded 37 knots. not comparable, but yesí allows you to put a different perspective, that not only hereí we live with the wind and turbulence.
The best way to see the effect of wind on airplanes and cóhow the pilots areán trained for this, son vípeople from around the world to have a reference of this phenomenonóless:
The objective of this post is to put into perspective the reality of the Quito Airport, where sí There is an additional difficulty due to the aboveáit arrives, hornbeamáDon't delay the devíto other airports, but it is something that happens all over the world.
Marshal Sucre it is not a dangerous airport, but yesí It's a bigger challengeíor en ésummer time for the crews whom we all thank for their daily professionalism, everything always within strict securityéarea that an international airport of this categoryía requires and account.
The entry of new aerolílines to Quito guarantee the safety of operating thereí, Therefore, as users, we must rest assured that international standards are fully complied with at all times..
Wind shears is a very critical situation to operate aircraft when landing
The airport that has them is critical
As long as the airlines continue to divert their flights to safe airports such as Guayaquil, there will be no risk of accidents and it is recommended to avoid landing in these conditions.
This should also be instructed by the control center, the tower and the DAC, sorry for the inconvenience, but that is the Quito airport
I wanted to know what happened to the Iberia plane that had an incident when landing at the airport on Saturday 11 August and according to what I have read in a comment on airliners.net, the A340-600 has been stranded in Quito for two weeks. Could you give me more details about it?? Or why don't you put a new post with detailed information about what happened?. I would like to know the details. I even know there's a video (the one I saw of very poor quality) where you can see the aborted landing but it was bad enough so it blew out a tire. If you can tell me more about it, I would really appreciate it.. By the way, thanks for this excellent blog., I've been following it since you started!
Hello david, Thanks for your comment. We have to wait for the report to find out what happened to Iberia, but in any case, the plane already left for Madrid ago 1 week.
The plateau where the new Quito airport in Tababela was built is a dry and desert sector, a loamy soil that is more sandy than clayey, which makes it vulnerable to erosion, the dust clouds that rise in summer especially, that is why they placed grass next to the platform and taxiway partially minimized this situation. Nevertheless, I think that it is not a geographically stable ground, that is why the Collas road has terraces to avoid landslides. The airport is not built flat or there are subsidences and slopes are seen from the beginning to the end of the runway. The ravines are a limiting aspect due to the winds, fog, cloudiness, etc… that in a flat place without ravines they are usually different and for air operations there are more risks of serious accidents than other aerodromes just beyond the safety zone if a take-off is aborted precisely because of the huge gaps and ravines.
Finally, Quito and its surroundings do not have better nearby places that are flat, and no matter how much they have done meteorological studies more than thirty years ago, the situation for aviation in climatic terms is almost the same but today the operability with the help of technology is better.
Agree with your comment Carlos.
The Tababela airport was built with studies that are more than thirty years old, so I think that the meteorological and other conditions changed at the time of its construction and that is why there are additional difficulties to those considered at that time.
I would like to see these studies and also be able to know if they were updated at any time in the analysis of climatic factors before or during construction.
What is difficult for Latin American aviation, particularly in the Andes, is finding flat sites… Many sites are already populated and if they are semi or partially empty, as happened in Tababela, they have streams. In other countries that have more money, the geography can be improved with landfills for future expansions and improvements in terms of operability, the negative aspects with engineering., but in Tababela I do not think it is feasible due to its enormous cost and size in the ravines…
As you say, Nicolás Tababela has advantages compared to the old airport and with better technologies in the future, there will be even fewer limitations under current conditions.