Originally Posted by
27/09
There in lies the problem. Extending to the northwest into Evans Bay isn't much help. It's the single engine climb performance to toward the north west that is the limiting factor now.
Extending the runway toward the high terrain effectively increases a climb gradient that is already a limitation. Or you just take off at a lower weight and get airborne at the same point as you do now, well before the new extended threshold and not use the extension at all.
To be useful the extension needs to be to the south east into Lyall Bay.
There is already an RNP departure that accounts for single engine climb to the North, developed and in use by ANZ.
It's moot, anyway. The proposed extension is to the South. The road around the perimeter was bridged at the South end some time ago. The water is less deep to the (immediate) South, and there is bedrock. (Well, sort of.) The only disadvantage working it at that end is the Southerly swell in Cook Strait. I imagine there will be a moll or similar protection at the new Southern airfield boundary.