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Old 29th Sep 2019, 11:10
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pax britanica
 
Join Date: Aug 2001
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i lived in Bermuda and flew London to Bermuda many may times. There is only one airport , gone by various names over the years but its still the same and it only has one runway . often wondered where the alternate was and over time talking with BA and other crews it seems that for the US airlines it was head back to where you started, for BA it was JFK and for everyone if it was a dire emergency Norfolk Virginia USN base but nearest if not by that much. all about 1 hr 50 away and usually a very strong headwind. Airport could be closed by hurricanes-predictable or very severe crosswinds-less predictable. Couple of times airport was closed due to transiting military aircraft blowing multiple tyres on landing.

Never any dramas during the time I spent on the island, and occasionally it was the alternate when snow hit the US north east and flights from South America and Africa decided not to risk going further. I suppose that a lot of islands have the single runway problem but Bermuda is a long way from the next useful one by any measure. An interesting place for an 'aviation enthusiast ' and I believe for flight crews too as lots of opportunities for nice visual approaches coupled with some really challenging cross winds in the winter months when the gales come from the SW but the runway -which could only be built facing one way runs NW-SE

Apologies for thread drift
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