Ben's take on the day's events.
Virgin jet fog 'drama' at Mildura a sign of bad fog season | Plane Talking
It’s unusual for two mainline jets, both 737s, one operated by Virgin Australia and the other by Qantas, to have to land at Mildura because fog has closed one capital city airport (Adelaide) and they don’t have the fuel to go to another capital city (Melbourne) or to another jet capable airfield (Albury Wodonga for example).
As such, today’s diversion into Mildura by Virgin and Qantas flights, but with the former declaring a fuel emergency, raises some questions which may, stress the word ‘may’, prove important.
Fuel emergencies are not intended within the rules concerning diversions to alternate airports to be a normal procedure. That’s why they are called ‘emergencies’, to be used in an emergency, and it is the use of the emergency call for the Virgin flight to then safety land at Mildura that needs to be determined.
If we try to summarise the rules that Qantas, Virgin Australia, and anyone else has to abide by in diversions caused by the closure of an intended airport, the key point is that no matter whether it is an A320, or a 737 or an E-jet, and no matter where it may have started its trip, it will arrive in the vicinity of the alternative airfield (Mildura) with identical capability to make a set of missed approaches, and loiter with intent to land, if it has to.
Qantas and Virgin were both diverted to Mildura by air traffic control when Adelaide airport notified it that fog was closing it to arrivals.
At the time air traffic control had reported that Mildura was clear. It acted on the best information it had, directed the affected airlines to go to Mildura, and then everyone was caught out by the unforecast fog that also affected the visibility at that airfield.
There is no suggestion that the crew of the Virgin Blue 737 did anything wrong.
But their route to a safe landing at Mildura was different to that used by the Qantas 737 in that they had to declare a fuel emergency meaning they had to land as soon as practicable rather than wait for an improvement in the visibility.
It may come down to the amount of fuel the respective pilots of the 737s used or didn’t use making missed approaches to the unexpectedly fog shrouded Mildura airport. The Virgin jet is reported to have made two missed approaches. Pilots are entitled to elect under their company’s operating procedures to fly an approach and abandon it if they cannot make visual contact with the runway at the decision height at which they continue the landing or power up the engines and climb away.
A spokesperson for Virgin Australia confirmed these details, and emphasised that the airline was co-operating fully with CASA and the ATSB, should the ATSB decide to inquire further into the incident on the basis that so doing may enhance or improve air safety through awareness of or discussion of the factors were in play at Mildura and in the 737s at the time.
It has so far been an uncommonly foggy or bad weather prone winter in SE Australia. There have been various other incidents in recent weeks that haven’t made it into the general media that were caused by late deterioration in conditions at airports like Sydney when approaching airliners had in some cases no option but to land in ‘crappy’ conditions.
Awareness of them may call for a ‘little’ extra precautionary fuel here, or a few less passengers or freight pallets there when it comes to flights heading off for SE capital city airports.
Especially if the aircraft concerned are large, will be flying for 14 to 15 hours, and have less alternative runways to choose from because of their landing weight and length and width requirements.
This may make this a winter where airline operations in general will need to become increasingly sensitive to the risk of last minute weather issues.
But the airlines don’t need the media to alert them to the risks. The merits of an ATSB inquiry would not be in pointing to a ‘problem’ the airlines are well aware of, but providing a cohesive and informed look at the issues arising from last night in Mildura as a basis for any change in the procedures or rules that everyone should adopt.