Originally Posted by
TangoAlphad
Dundee caters to a lot of business jets due to them being a lot cheaper than Edi/Gla. A slope that steep would limit them unnecessarily.
Agreed but perhaps a 3.5 degree glideslope would give more vertical separation near Scone and less risk of terrain masking the ILS. Would a 15kt tailwind and a 3.5 degree glideslope during icing conditions be too challenging an approach in a Q400?
Originally Posted by
TangoAlphad
And I'm not sure what you mean by extended finals.. it is a non radar procedural approach.. you can't self position further out than the CAT C approach takes you and that will be why there is a platform of 2100.. to match up with the distance on the slope that is there. While the CAT C takes you over Scone there is a letter of agreement in place which works very well and traffic at Scone doesn't tend to be any issue for Dundee.
If the Cat C ILS procedure for 09 had, let's say, a 3000ft platform (or perhaps higher?) and 10 mile finals instead of the current 6.7, taking it beyond Scone, it would be better suited to the frequent tailwind approaches at DND. It would reduce crew workload and provide more time to establish a stable approach in such conditions (especially during icing conditions when 20kts is added to Q400 speeds). It gives the added advantage of increased vertical separation from traffic at Scone. Presumably a revised Cat C approach of the type I have suggested would require testing and certification which I expect would be expensive.
Originally Posted by
TangoAlphad
Dundee is a small airport and will be limited financially as to what kind of approaches they can offer. The ils onto 09 has on a few occasions been limiting but for the vast majority of the time it gets you onto 09 or circling onto 27.
There is a GPS approach very near completion which will give near ILS minima onto both 09 and 27.
The GPS approach, when approved, might resolve the issues that Flybe seem to have with the current procedures but it will depend on whether it is compatible with Flybe SOPs. Presumably Flybe will have seen sight of the proposed procedure. Perhaps they are uncomfortable with it or perhaps approval is too far away in the future or too uncertain?
Flybe should have been aware of the limitations of DND and its compatibility with the Q400 before the route commenced so I'm confused as to why they need to withdraw from the route. Didn't they do their homework beforehand or has something changed since then?