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Old 10th Aug 2017, 08:46
  #1140 (permalink)  
Expressflight
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: UK
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planedrive

I'm puzzled by your comment "No-where as near as SEN ...." when comparing SEN's runway length to that at Dortmund which you say is 1700m. The context of your comment seemed to suggest that SEN was less than that which is incorrect, but perhaps I mistook your meaning. Maybe I should clarify its physical characteristics:

SEN is limited to declaring ASDA or TODA to below 1800m because its runway width limits it to being a Code 3 classification airfield; thus the TODA on both runways is declared as 1799m. In fact the paved runway is 1856m in length plus a Starter Extension of 135m on 05. LDA is declared as 1604m on both runways but the pavement continues beyond this in both cases. Runway 05 has 240m of paved runway beyond that (declared as a RESA) while 23 has 135m of Starter Extension which is part of the total 227m RESA. In reality this additional pavement is used by all landing A320s because the aircraft rolls out along it to clear 05 via taxiway Alpha or to use the turning circle on the Starter Extension to backtrack to Charlie or Bravo to clear the runway after landing on 23.

Obviously aircraft weights are limited by the declared TODAs of 1799m (or ASDAs of 1739m) and the declared LDAs of 1604m but not many airfields offer the assuring sight of extra pavement beyond these distances. Any operator considering operations from a new airfield will send a technical team to assess the facilities and I'm sure they would be quite pleased to see extra lengths of pavement.

So while SEN's runway is certainly on the short side in comparison to most major airfields, in reality it is not quite as short as the TODA and LDA figures would suggest at first glance.
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