As has already been pointed out ..... the aerodrome manual states the times and procedures followed.
In fact the times are "flexible" to an extent.
The scheduled inspections do not take place without first consulting with the Watch Manager to select a suitable time .... i.e. one which causes no or little disruption.
Bear in mind the intended times are published so it's not a case of having a sudden and unexpected scheduled runway inspection
That call is generally along the lines of "... need to get a routine runway inspection in on 23R/23L/both, when's a good time?"
It is actually not unheard of that if the watch manager advises "now's a bad time, looks better in XX minutes" or such like, then that's exactly what happens and later another call is made.
Sometime the response is "where are you, can get you on after the 75 on short finals, otherwise it'll be a while...." .. now that one can raise a sweat
Yes it's MAplc's train set and yes the inspections need to be done regularly and in accordance with the requirements of the aerodrome manual.
But, it's always mindful of customer needs and I've personally never been aware of any time when the advice of ATC has been ignored on when the inspection should take place.
On this ocassion Ops3 will not have just rolled up to Juliet 1 and that's the first that the tower knew of the inspection being required.
Ops3 will have made the call to the watch manager first, been told (probably) what the last movement a/c (arrival or departure & callsign) would be before he could do the inspection, he's listened for that one being given it's instructions & then has called the tower to confirm he's in position.
Now all that doesn't mean that every single inspection can be done without troubling someone, but generally everyone does try to avoid that.
No-one wants to complete an inspection and then have to backtrack half the runway to vacate ...
For other ad-hoc inspections/bird runs if you listen you'll hear often hear something like "routine" or "if traffic permits" etc mentioned when making the request .... that's an invitation to ATC to say it's not convenient right now, can you go away and come back later.
If there's a positive need to enter a runway then that will usually be identified to the controller when making the request.
It normally works well ..... but, sometimes someone doesn't like their day ....
