PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Why are most runways east to west ?
View Single Post
Old 6th May 2008, 09:10
  #9 (permalink)  
scooter boy
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Maders UK
Age: 57
Posts: 806
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Other factors like local topography have a bearing too.
Look at the runway direction at Plymouth - it is 13/31 (06/24 rarely used although I departed 06 yesterday).
Both 13 and 31 approaches are clear from the looming peaks and tors of Dartmoor which lies North East. The instrument procedures also reflect this.

Digressing slightly, it always amazes me how much our ancestors understood the weather (without recourse to the gadgetry we currently have available). You just have to consider the way farmhouses were orientated and their surrounding barns. The barns were usually planned to be wind and rain breaks and were on the "weather" side of the property - usually the South and West sides (in Cornwall).

SB
scooter boy is offline