4.1 Earthquake Christchurch NZ
 

Hello,

just reporting there has been a 4.1 magnitude Earthquake in Christchurch New Zealand, it was shallow at 15km deep.
No one has been reported as hurt or property damaged.
Earthquake is causing flight delays and struck just as SIA295 was on approach.
I have heard from a reliable source that the ILS system is currently not working.

Magnitude 4.1 quake shakes Christchurch | Stuff.co.nz

Best Regards

Are you sure it was an earthquake and not NZ testing its nuclear bomb? ;)

Funny that a little tremor knocks down an ILS in NZ
4.1 is small, larger earthquakes are active all times, as example currently in Indonesia, Afghanistan, Gibraltar
RSOE - Emergency and Disaster Information Service

I've had landings in the Middle East that brought oil out of the ground. ;)

The number is not the deciding factor, the depth and location of an earthquake can make a big difference to how destructive it is regardless of what the number says. Pretty sure New Zealand is quite familiar with earthquakes.

Yep, the number is meaningless. I am certain that the Airport at Christchurch has its own accelerometers and when these trigger at a certain level then the ILS is taken off line pending a calibration check.

ATC
 

Were i live we had two quakes over 8,0 within a few years, and tremors of about 6 or 7 once or twice a year.

ATC make it seem like non-event, send a few planes around, check runway and keep using RNAV till the ILS is checked, kudos to them.



It's in spanish, but the 10 sec mark he informs the first movement, then about at 50 sec start issuing holdings to everyone in case the controller needs to evacuate ATC facilities and allow some time to verify personnel and runway.

For those wondering about a reported closure of the airport after a 4.1, which admittedly isn't large.

The reported location of the earthquake was very close the Christchurch airport, and 16 k isn't very deep. The geology also influences the destructive power of a quake.

It was well within the expected pattern of aftershocks after the two big quakes, the second of which flattened a fair bit of the city, and killed a lot of people, so it won't have taken anyone by surprise.

So, they've had a lot of practice with earthquakes over the last few years, and are unlikely to have over-reacted.

To add to FlightlessParrot's post a problem with recent Christchurch after shocks has been Soil liquefaction.

1.64
 

I once landed a B767 at LHR and caused a 1.64 richter scale earthquake in NZ.

Or was it G, I can't quite remember...

Well, you have to clean the oleos all the way to the top somehow...

Good grief...
 

.... this belongs in Jet blast shirley. And frivolity from parabellum too! It used to in the good old days.

The Ancient Mariner

Enough, already, about earthquakes in New Zealand. There was an earthquake in CORNWALL at 2328 last night! OK, so 0.8 on the Richter scale isn't all that much, but they are sensitive down there, so let's hear it for Cornwall.