one question met at KSFO
 

Last time we depart RW 01R at KSFO,and be assigned an ATC clearance says
"as you line up, bring it up to the power point be ready behind a traffic he just touched down RWY 28R he is going through the intersection right to left"

what is the powerpoint means here?is it a mark or what

ATC wants you to move along the runway at minimum power until you reach the "takeoff power point." There is a note on the taxi chart and it's been 10 years since I've flown from SFO but I'm sure there is a sign marking the location beside the runway.

hi ethan

I flew out of KSFO for many,many years.

Runway 01r/l has a blast fence to protect automobiles driving on a major highway (101). I'm sure you have seen it as it is painted orange and white.

there is a smallish sign that says: takeoff power point, to which the controller is refering. You should not use more than taxi thrust until reaching this point for a couple of reasons, mainly to reduce damage to the blast fence, and as jets have gotten bigger over the years, their engines can really whip things up.

So what atc wanted you to do was to taxi up to the POWER POINT (nothing to do with computers), and have your engines and your own self READY TO GO/TAKEOFF AS SOON as traffic passed through the intersection with runway 28r/l.

You must still await TAKEOFF CLEARANCE, but when ATC says CLEARED FOR TAKEOFF, he wants to you start your takeoff roll as soon as he says so, not leisurely taxi up and then add power.


SFO is really sort of a small airport for such a big metro area. The runways are too close together for simultaneous instrument approaches (ILS), so ATC has to work hard at stuffing 10 pounds of sugar into an 8 pound sack.


I looked on one chart and don't see the power point mark, so next time you go there, look around for a sign...it may be on the right, not the left also. I can't remember.

Fly Safe

Thank you for your reply :8 ,I will pay attention on that next time