EIWF/Waterford ATC
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EIWF/Waterford ATC
Recently on a Nav Ex. to EIWF, I came accross an unusual traffic situation.
Bearing in mind, I am just a novice pilot, I am wondering if this is a common place situation.
A VFR item of traffic was operating to the East of EIWF, "Near the Hook", a local landmark, and returning to the airport for landing, the CTR was active at the time.
A scheduled flight came onto the frequency about 40miles East, also inbound (ovbiously IFR). The VFR Aircraft was cleared to the airfield and to orbit over the tower, where it reported about 10 mins later and seemed to remain until the IFR traffic had landed ( approx 5mins or so later again).
Surely could the VFR have landed with plenty of time between this and the scheduled landing. Can anyone shine any light on this, if there is a procedure I havnt been informed of, does IFR take that much precidence over VFR....
Bearing in mind, I am just a novice pilot, I am wondering if this is a common place situation.
A VFR item of traffic was operating to the East of EIWF, "Near the Hook", a local landmark, and returning to the airport for landing, the CTR was active at the time.
A scheduled flight came onto the frequency about 40miles East, also inbound (ovbiously IFR). The VFR Aircraft was cleared to the airfield and to orbit over the tower, where it reported about 10 mins later and seemed to remain until the IFR traffic had landed ( approx 5mins or so later again).
Surely could the VFR have landed with plenty of time between this and the scheduled landing. Can anyone shine any light on this, if there is a procedure I havnt been informed of, does IFR take that much precidence over VFR....
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Very difficult to comment on such a situation without the benefit of actually having been there, High-Flyer.
It may well have been that the VFR flight was known to be quite a slow a/c and the ETA for the field couldn't be pinned down tightly enough to allow the controller to make a decision early on re who was gonna be the number one.
It may well have been pre-arranged that way between ATC and the flying instructor to give a (possible) student pilot experience of operating in proximity to IFR line traffic in the circuit.
It may also have been a controller who was being a little cautious! Using Reduced Visual Separation maybe, although it sounds like there'd need to be a great big sun-roof in the tower in this instance!!
Who knows?? U are right in saying that IFR traffic will take precedence over VFR if there is any possible question of conflicting ETA's, but again, there is just no way to know unless actually having been there. And I am certainly not going to start second-guessing colleagues!
The above are only a very small number of possibilities, there could be any number of reasons for it that I haven't thought of. Hope I've been of some assistance to you though.
It may well have been that the VFR flight was known to be quite a slow a/c and the ETA for the field couldn't be pinned down tightly enough to allow the controller to make a decision early on re who was gonna be the number one.
It may well have been pre-arranged that way between ATC and the flying instructor to give a (possible) student pilot experience of operating in proximity to IFR line traffic in the circuit.
It may also have been a controller who was being a little cautious! Using Reduced Visual Separation maybe, although it sounds like there'd need to be a great big sun-roof in the tower in this instance!!
Who knows?? U are right in saying that IFR traffic will take precedence over VFR if there is any possible question of conflicting ETA's, but again, there is just no way to know unless actually having been there. And I am certainly not going to start second-guessing colleagues!
The above are only a very small number of possibilities, there could be any number of reasons for it that I haven't thought of. Hope I've been of some assistance to you though.
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EastCoast is right that it's difficult to offer any real answer with the limited info that you provide. One key bit of info is the class of airspace that the aircraft were operating in. EastCoast mentions reduced separation in the vicinity of the aerodrome - this implies that the controller had to separate the VFR and IFR flights. This could well slow things down if there are limited facilities at the airfield.
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I would say its completly normal.
Different controllers have different safety margins. Certain controllers at prestwick are happy mixing A320, 737 in the circuit with a couple of light aircraft and sloting a 747 IFR inbound through the lot without looking up from there tea and newspaper ( you can hear them turn the page when they transmit). And when their safety margins are tighter than yours its not very comfy for the pilot, so it works both ways. I think its very dependent on who trained them.
Also they have alot more to do than look out the window.
IFR traffic does tend to take priority over VFR and some do take advantage of this by paying the extra for a IFR recovery so they don't have to enter the circuit and the associated holds etc. Usually saving more in rental time than the approach cost.
As a pilot you should try and not get fustrated aka air rage when you get told to hold when you think you could get in. Especially at small airports with little commercial traffic they jump through hoops to make sure it gets in. And they would prefer to make a light aircraft hold than risk the possiblity of the runway being closed due to a problem on landing with the light aircraft.
Every airport has its own style of controlling its half the fun of visiting a new airport.
tescoapp
Different controllers have different safety margins. Certain controllers at prestwick are happy mixing A320, 737 in the circuit with a couple of light aircraft and sloting a 747 IFR inbound through the lot without looking up from there tea and newspaper ( you can hear them turn the page when they transmit). And when their safety margins are tighter than yours its not very comfy for the pilot, so it works both ways. I think its very dependent on who trained them.
Also they have alot more to do than look out the window.
IFR traffic does tend to take priority over VFR and some do take advantage of this by paying the extra for a IFR recovery so they don't have to enter the circuit and the associated holds etc. Usually saving more in rental time than the approach cost.
As a pilot you should try and not get fustrated aka air rage when you get told to hold when you think you could get in. Especially at small airports with little commercial traffic they jump through hoops to make sure it gets in. And they would prefer to make a light aircraft hold than risk the possiblity of the runway being closed due to a problem on landing with the light aircraft.
Every airport has its own style of controlling its half the fun of visiting a new airport.
tescoapp
