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- Canberra Weather & Time
- Time 17:53
- Weather
- Date Fri Sep 03 2010
- Forecast unknown
Fog at Canberra Airport
See below for answers to frequently asked questions on fog at Canberra Airport.Q: What flights are affected by fog?
A: Prior experience has shown that in almost all cases, aircraft parked overnight at Canberra Airport are able to depart to their destinations on schedule.
This applies to all flights scheduled to depart Canberra before 8:00am.
The major impact on aircraft operations from a heavy fog is aircraft arriving in the morning (typically before 9am), and the flow-on effect on departing flights using these same aircraft.
Of course, airline schedules are subject to change and please always contact your airline directly for the latest information on schedules and fog related impacts.
Q: If Canberra Airport is fogged in, what should I do about my flight?
A: In the first instance, you must always contact your airline for information on flight arrivals and departures.
However, as a general rule, even if there is evidence of fog at the airport, passengers should still go to the airport and check-in for their flight at the appropriate time, otherwise you risk being offloaded when the flight actually does depart.
When there is fog impact, airlines will often combine flights on larger aircraft or reallocate aircraft operating a specific flight. Customers should be at the airport to ensure they are informed of any such changes and available to board an aircraft at any time.
Fog is not consistent and in some cases isolated aircraft are able to land, and then depart shortly thereafter, even though other flights are delayed or cancelled.
Q: I have an important meeting -how can I avoid the risk of delay due to fog?
A: Whilst there is never a total guarantee that you can avoid a fog or any other sort of delay, the following may assist in planning flights to and from Canberra, especially over winter.
If you are travelling to Canberra, book an afternoon or evening flight to Canberra and stay overnight. The flights that are typically most impacted from any fog are those scheduled to arrive between 6am and 10am.
If you are travelling from Canberra in the morning, there is a significantly lower chance of being delayed by fog if you book a seat on an aircraft that has overnighted at Canberra Airport. This applies to all flights scheduled to depart Canberra before 8:00am. Otherwise, book on an afternoon or evening flight from Canberra. Note that the only way to guarantee no fog delays is to travel the night before.
Q: What is Canberra Airport doing about fog and reducing delays to aircraft?
A: The Instrument Landing System (ILS) installed at Canberra Airport on Runway 35 (landing from the south) allows aircraft to land in low visibility conditions. In 2004 Canberra Airport worked with Airservices Australia to lower the height above ground at which a pilot must be able to see the runway lighting from 330 feet to 230 feet. This has already had a big impact on reducing fog delays. We have worked with Airservices to further reduce this to 200ft -this was delivered on 16 July 2007.
Canberra Airport is also working with the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), Airservices Australia, the major airlines and the RAAF to achieve further reductions in the ILS decision height for some passenger jet aircraft -as low as 100ft above ground. At this stage we are aiming to have such a system in place by winter 2008.
New precision approaches, known as Required Navigation Performance (RNP), are for the first time allowing low-visibility approaches from the north (Runway 17) for certain new generation B737 jet aircraft, which provides greater flexibility to airlines in low-visibility conditions (especially when fog is thicker to the south). This technology is expected to be expanded over the coming years, with larger number of aircraft equipped, as well as greater capabilities to land in low-visibility conditions.
Please contact Canberra Airport on 02 6275 2222 if you wish to discuss any of these matters with us further.
