Airport approach/departure direction

[Stu666]

When aircraft are on approach or departing airports, who decides which direction the aircraft is to fly that particular approach/departure, ATC or the pilot?

Watching movements on FlightRadar24 it quickly becomes apparent there are common paths from different angles. I understand there are factors like noise abatement and avoiding VFR traffic, but would really like to know more about who decides the final course.

Also, are there any published maps showing routes around airports that aircraft must follow?

[wiggy]

Generally you want to take of land into wind, so that pins down the runway direction.

The pilot will Flight plan ( "ask") for a particular route, but ATC can vary it.

At most major airports you'll initially follow whichever published Standard Instrument Departure (SID) heads you off in your desired direction of flight, e.g out of LHR there are "Buzad" SIDs for the north, Compton for the west, Southampton for the south and others around the compass rose. Once in the climb it's quite common for ATC to take you off the SID and give you headings to fly to avoid other traffic and/or shorten your route.

Similar inbound: there are Standard Arrival Routings (STARs) which again feed in from various points around the compass and these join up with the Instrument Approach "paths" for the airport's runways. Again ATC may well take you off the standard routes for deconfliction with other traffic and track shortening.

[CentreFix25]

A lot of your answers will be found here... UK AIP (http://www.ais.org.uk/public/index.php%3Foption=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=6&Itemid=13.html) and here UK ASD (http://www.ais.org.uk/public/index.php%3Foption=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=186&Itemid=258.html)

Someone else might piece it all together for you.

[twentypoint4]

http://www.nats-uk.ead-it.com/public/index.php%3Foption=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=6&Itemid=13.html (http://http//www.nats-uk.ead-it.com/public/index.php%3Foption=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=6&Itemid=13.html)

Have a little browse through the UK airports using the link above. If you open up the London Heathrow link and look through all the SIDs (Standard Instrument Departures) you will soon get an idea of the choice of departure routes.

This is obviously a very simple description and only applies to commercial aircraft at an airport like Heathrow wishing to fly in the airways structure.

The runway/runway direction in use at any time is decided by ATC. The decision is determined by many factors, but mainly wind direction. Depending on what runway is being used there are then a set of SIDs that can be flown determined by where the aircraft wants to join the airway structure. The particular SID to be flown is given to the crew by ATC however the crew will normally know what SID to expect because they will have pre-briefed.

You'll notice that the SIDs are given names/designators which are determined by where they will join the airway. For example a Compton (CPT) SID will route towards a navigational beacon named Compton which is situated at the confluence of a few different airways.

[Stu666]

Thank you all for your replies. Just what I was looking for and very enlightening.

Is it basically part of a pilot's job to dig out these SIDs and STARs prior to every flight?

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

<<Is it basically part of a pilot's job to dig out these SIDs and STARs prior to every flight?>>

Basically, the pilot is responsible for having the information but with large commercial operations the information is provided for him by his company.

[PA31flyer]

The pilot carries all the 'approach plates' with different Sids and Stars on their person in a folder. And when cleared a certain route they simply page the appropriate plate. But we generally know which arrival or departure route to expect giving a bit of time for preparation.