UIO (Quito) question
 

Sitting in my hotel in Quito watching the planes go by, the IB flight on short finals right now, and I notice this afternoon that take off and landings are in opposing directions, i.e. on reciprical headings, so I can watcht eh landing planes going in right to left, and watch the ones climbing out coming left to right.

Ok, as a PA28 stude, I would love to know the reason for this, please ?

Could you be a little more specific as to what runway they were using for landing? Don't worry, I'll deduce which one they were using for takeoff :}.

At what time was that so I can obtain the respective METAR.

Anyway, what comes to mind is takeoff performance (e.g. climb gradient, minimum vis.) and tailwind limitations for landing. Perhaps there was a CB on the takeoff path and pilots were opting for a different path?

Get back to me with more specific data to see if I can give you a better answer.

Ok, I am in the centre of town, the airport is to the North, so guess the runway heading is something like 330 ?

There was a fiar bit of weather beyond the airport, so am guessing thats what they were trying to avoid, by taking off in a Southerly direction.

90% of my landings in Quito has been runway 35.

Hate the long lay-overs, get a headace from the thin air...:sad:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ead.JPG/800px-

There is an approach to RW 35, but only circle to land or visual for 17(can be quite interesting!). Therefore, you may have traffic landing on 35 but departing 17. All depends on wind speed and time of day though.