Cargolux at East Midlands

[Midland 331]

Vaguely spotterish, and probably has a straightforward answer, but..

I noticed a Cargolux 747, tagged on Flightradar24 as NYC-LUX, make an abrupt turn to the south when just south of Sheffield this morning, descend fairly rapidly, cross close to the 27 threshold at around FL80, then make turns to the left to establish for 27.

It seemed a mightily odd routing to me, looking like some kind of diversion with turns to lose height. I would have thought that it would have arrived via a normal descent through the Manchester TMA (my terminology and knowledge dates from the 1980s -sorry!), then route approximately over Trent VOR to establish on a downwind leg for 27.

Can anyone shed any light on this? I thought that EMA had quite strict STARs, particularly at eight in the morning.

r

[ANDYSPPR]

Midland 331

I only know a little so please forgive if my details are not all correct.

As far as I know there have been two CLX 747's in today and again as far as I know they are coming from Canada bringing F1 cars.

LX-OCV CLX659

LX-RCV CLX773

If they followed a normal pattern of arrival they can follow the ROKUP approaches from the NW which brings them over the TNT beacon.

I saw one a few weeks ago doing the same thing but I cannot remember which grand prix they were coming from.

Hope this helps, Andy S

[Midland 331]

Ah! So it was expected, not a divert. The odd routing, as well as the flight number's routing threw me. It was odd that it had to extend its track considerably to get the height off.

Thanks

r

[almost professional]

Standard vectoring technique! If you get presented with an inbound high at ROKUP (not unusual) then the limits of controlled airspace to the North and East of EMA mean you can run out of track miles very easily, especially with an A/C thats slow to descend. Taking the inbound east of the field, say over the EME, and downwind left for 27 gives something like 20 extra miles to play with-helps also with planning the CDA that the crews are trying to perform. Unusual I admit to be using it at 8 in the morning but watch later in the evening and its a regular option.

[Midland 331]

A-P - Thanks very much.

Having been an avid airband listener many years back, I always got the impress ion that the previous sector/agency did their best to help the next folks out.

What's to stop them delivering the traffic on an expeditious heading and reasonable height? Something rolling in off the ocean via IOM and WAL surely could be separated against the "flow" of inbounds to Manchester as it headed towards Trent, and given a decent CDA in the process?

(rhetorical question - no need for a lengthy reply unless you feel so minded - I realise that the Rubik's cube that it ATC can't be fully explained in a few words)

r

[almost professional]

Main problem with inbounds on that track is the fact they are in essence crossing the grain of the Airways system, Scottish are descending the A/C across the southbounds from Manchester, Northbounds from Birmingham, and the inbounds to Dayne from the Southeast. Leads to a pretty complex traffic situation at times and out of necessity our arrival can get caught on top and therefore high and late. At this point we could put it into the hold, but preference is to give an extended routing but as explained earlier finding the track miles without leaving controlled airspace means being inventive!
On occasions you may see the arrivals from the south do the same for similar reasons-finding track miles.

[Midland 331]

Thanks for the reply.

Meanwhile, have the PIGOT or UPDUK holds been used at all?

I have in-laws living in the vicinity.

r

[almost professional]

We do use them, predominately in the evenings when the number of inbounds - especially from the north - can mean it's busy enough to warrant it.
Also of course in event of bad weather, or perhaps a Runway Incident. Minimum holding levels are such that hopefully your In-laws not disturbed too much!