Surely the proposal to extend the runway at WLG isn't at all serious.
They can't extend the 16 end due to the Newlands versus the approach issue, so they would have to extend the 34 end.
Which rapidly heads out into a deep and very rough piece of sea.
Imagine the earthworks!
And instead of lovely, cold southerlies on approach, you'd be getting horrible turbs from the warm northerlies.
As a point of discussion - to get in and get out a reasonable range of different wide-body types at economical take off and landing weights, how many metres would they theoretically have to go out into the Strait?
What's the depth of the seafloor there?
I remember seeing a NIWA 3D sonar printout of the floor of Cook Strait once... it looks like a broken piece of glass because there are so many fractures off the main Alpine fault.
(And yes, I know you can already land a 747 at WLG if you really need to.)
Hmmm - answered my own question.
So they ARE looking at going North an extra 300m - hoping that RNP will allow an approach - presumably straight down the Hutt Valley, then curving onto finals?
But they couldn't take off to the North cos they still can't clear Newlands one engine out, and turning over the Hutt Valley on one donk isn't a good idea
