CX A340 with not enough fuel?
 

Cathay Pacific Flight 197, with 266 passengers and 15 crew on board, was inbound from Hong Kong and scheduled to land in Auckland about midday yesterday, but had to be diverted to Ohakea Air Force Base, near Palmerston North, because inclement weather made it too dangerous to land.

Cathay Pacific passengers stuck for seven hours 'not angy' | Stuff.co.nz

Flight Radar 24 shows that the approach to Auckland was aborted at 875 ft, and no go around or holding pattern was attempted.

The big question to be asked is why didn't it have sufficient fuel to continue to the only other commercial airport in New Zealand suitable for the A340? I.e. Christchurch.

Ohakea is suitable for an A340. It can take even a B744 with some restrictions.

No big story here, move along:ok:

I would say he had the perfect amount of fuel, he arrived as destination and couldn't get in due to weather, he then had enough fuel to divert to his nominated alternate.

Sounds like it all went well to me.

Yes, Ohakea is big enough for an A340, but it is also New Zealand's only fully operational air force base, and is available to commercial aircraft only in an emergency.

The question is why the CX aircraft didn't have sufficient fuel to continue to Christchurch? Or do airlines routinely nominate operational military fields as their alternatives?

The big answer: Ohakea is approved as an alternate for CX ops into Auckland, although it is not commercially preferred. If the forecast for Auckland indicates a diversion is likely, then Christchurch would probably be planned as the alternate.

I don't know the details, but I suspect the forecast for this flight indicated reasonable conditions for the planned ETA. Consequently, Ohakea was planned as the alternate. The aircraft subsequently arrived at Auckland, was unable to land due to unforecast inclement conditions and then diverted to the planned alternate. Honestly, is that such a big deal??

No, it isn't to those who operate these aircraft. But to the media and those armchair quarterbacks, it is grist for the mill........:(

I think so in some cases. Elmendorf AFB is frequently used as an alternate to Anchorage(about 5 miles away) if the weather is reasonable. In this case, the destination has the lower minimum approaches but an unforecast fog bank can easily be very localized in that region making the alternate legally the place to go.

Not it is not available only in an emergency!


Ohakea has been used since 1995 by Air New Zealand as an alternate and later by other airlines too. It's the whole reason Ohakea got/maintains Part 139 certification. The RNZAF garners revenue from airlines (you have to pay to be able to nominate Ohakea plus a movement fee should you actually use it).


I concur completely with your thinking.

Ka6crpe,

Nothing special happened here...the crew took flight plan fuel based on the forecast and diverted to their nominated alternate since the weather didn't improve.

Stop being a sensationalist...go back and fly your 152 in VFR conditions or play with your RC planes.

Many years ago Easy jet and BA used Kinloss as a diversion point for Inverness.
Until the DFT found out and said NO you cant do that its not secure!!!.

now every thing goes to ABZ or EDI and pax have to endure hours on a bus

How right you are.

I, a retired BA captain, have diverted to Kinloss on at least two occasions when the weather was below limits at Inverness (was/still is? A VOR/DME approach in my time).

We were handled by VASS? flight and what superb treatment we got (a few wee drams from the bar may have helped).

One diversion was the morning of an AOC inspection, I had much trouble trying to persuade the F/Sgt i/c not to paint the tyres white!!

Even got to meet the AOC who arrived in his own Hawk a few minutes after me.

The VASS chaps had very clean overalls.

<<aborted at 875 ft, and no go around or holding pattern was attempted.>>

Be interesting to know what actually did if he didn't go around!

So lemme see.

Planned for Auckland..arrived to find it closed
(assuming civil strip only planning) Planned Christchurch as the alternate

Was Christchurch actually open at the time? or was it closed or going to be questionable at the time of arrival?

Landed at Ohakea. Strikes me that Ohakea was within easy reach, and clearly open.

Sounds like a standard diversion to me...something we did on our PPL navs...nearest suitable. Sort the issues out later Never yet had a strip owner give me the royal for putting down on thier patch due stress of Wx....usually get coffee and scones.

Yawn......:zzz:

AQIS Boigu "or play with your RC planes" ... how quaint, you think they'll get out of their armchair and get past playing PC games. After all, it's safer - can't break a model or an aircraft, just revert to last saved position!

Probably shouldn't even mention it, because if we're not careful, the various polies and regulators will decide that ALL aviation should be done by PC games ... you don't need to go anywhere, have a virtual holiday with your virtual friends in a virtual place ... all safely let's pretend. :ugh:

NZ Airforce....hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

New Zealand's only airforce was in Australia right now last I heard......the 757:D

I guess with ANZAC day approaching fast talking about the demise of the RNZAF is appropriate. It seems to me most news presenters and media types don't grasp why we mark ANZAC day the way we do. They think we are celebrating something. We're not, we're remembering ( Lest We Forget) . The whole point is to remember how bloody awful it was and avoid it in the future......how do we do that? A strong peace time military of all the allied countries. So all those that vote for a more 'rationalised' defence force should feel ( in my opinion) hypocritical if they turn up at an ANZAC day parade.
Rant over......My airline plans on Ohakea as well.

Yeah?

It's about remembering the past sacrifice of our men and women of the armed services.

WTF does it have to do with, From the Government

May be you have just missed the meaning of the day yourself!

Excellent, glad to know you're thinking of me c100 :ok:

I do think it goes beyond just remembering for the sake of remembering though. I think it's important to remember that going back two generations the oldies who are no longer with us would always talk of the importance of never letting it happen again. To me ( and my long departed grandparents ) that meant maintaining a capable military force during times of peace.
Have a nice day,
Framer