Cleared Visual
24th Jan 2013, 06:04
Hello,
I observed something I found unusual today at Canberra. I have been working for a few weeks now at the Brindabella Business Park and usually park next to the runway, so I get a good view of arrivals and departures in the mornings and evenings.
Today, as normal runway 35 was in use for arrivals and departures by RPT traffic. Curiously however, at least two Qantaslink (Sunstate?) Q400s used runway 30, for arrivals. A Virgin (Skywest) ATR departed from 35, and a number of DJ and QF jets also. So my question is why was just a single airline/type using the shorter cross runway? There did not seem to be noticeable wind on the ground.
Does the Q400 have a restriction on crosswind that is significantly lower than the ATR72, E190 and 737? Does Sunstate have some sort of approval to conduct a special approach at this airport, or is it possible there was some other operational reason. If anyone in the know could shed some light on this to satisfy my curiousity, I would be most grateful!
I observed something I found unusual today at Canberra. I have been working for a few weeks now at the Brindabella Business Park and usually park next to the runway, so I get a good view of arrivals and departures in the mornings and evenings.
Today, as normal runway 35 was in use for arrivals and departures by RPT traffic. Curiously however, at least two Qantaslink (Sunstate?) Q400s used runway 30, for arrivals. A Virgin (Skywest) ATR departed from 35, and a number of DJ and QF jets also. So my question is why was just a single airline/type using the shorter cross runway? There did not seem to be noticeable wind on the ground.
Does the Q400 have a restriction on crosswind that is significantly lower than the ATR72, E190 and 737? Does Sunstate have some sort of approval to conduct a special approach at this airport, or is it possible there was some other operational reason. If anyone in the know could shed some light on this to satisfy my curiousity, I would be most grateful!