Where is a safe alternate? Where is not?

[dirtyrat]

Hi all,

I'm lucky that I fly all over the world (though often at short notice).

I thoroughly research my destinations, so know about those, but in the case of enroute problems, I may need to choose an airfield to divert to, that is 'suitable' but the associated town/city/area is unknown to me.

I was wondering if anyone knows of any document/website that can show you places that it are NOT safe to go in the case of diversion, updated regularly. There is virtually no info about this from my (small) OPS department.

I have a series of flights coming up next month that overfly Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Africa, Syria Israel etc. For example, I'm thinking to myself "would it be wise to land in Bagdad nowadays with the threat of ISIS?" How about Tel Aviv? How bad would it be? If I divert there, almost certainly I won't be flying back out same day. All I can go on is the news... I'm NOT up to date with the news for the whole of the World etc.

Places in Africa... Some are great places, some are not... I'm concerned that I would pick an airfield in a hell hole, and someone would say after the event, " if you'd have flown another 20 mins, you would have landed in paradise".

Would it have been safe to land in Kiev 3 months ago? Is it safe today? I think I know the answer to many of these questions, but you get my point I hope.

I'm not looking for answers about specific airfields or countries; the world's situation will change continuously. I'm hoping that someone can point me towards a place for info about dangerous places etc. where is fine, where is ok, where is best avoided.

Thanks! :ok:

[DCThumb]

Fco.gov.uk travel advice? Presume you already use this?

[con-pilot]

If you use an international handling company, such as Universal, they will or should on request, supply what you need, including alternate airports that have maintenance facilties for your type of aircraft.

[silverknapper]

If you travel globally you should have a risk management company who give you a brief for every region you'll visit. And have the network and ability to have the appropriate security measures in place at a moments notice if required.

The flight planning companies can provide the info, but for the security personnel a more specialised company can be best. There are plenty about. We use Control Risks. No complaints and were able to arrange armed convoys in some regions at short notice.

[dirtyrat]

Thank you for your replies.

I'm especially pleased with the 'Control Risks' interactive map... seems just what I was looking for!

I'm sure that my company do have a risk management company in the background, but I'm not sure how much they are used by our OPS when we are 'only' overflying somewhere dodgy.

Cheers!


Any more great sites out there?

[dc9-32]

Use a trip planning company rather than "wing it".

[envoy]

In addition to operational sources, check with your aircraft insurance provider. You might find that some alternates (and destinations!) are excluded, which would reduce the scope of your investigations.

A good flight department should be on top of this sort of thing...

[JB007]

Iran/Iraq will probably require Oxygen Escape Routes too...