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Is landing a plane on the Nantes-Atlantique runway becoming more and more complicated for pilots?
Still, flights diverted to neighboring airports (Bordeaux or Rennes in particular) are linked at the start of 2023. On Sunday evening, half a dozen of them were affected.
A similar episode took place at the beginning of the year.
Six flights had been diverted on Thursday, January 13, then three the following Saturday.
Contacted at the time by
Le Figaro
, the General Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGAC) had justified the situation by
"the conjunction of two factors"
.
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On the one hand, she attributed this to
“deteriorated weather conditions”
and on the other hand to
“an additional landing constraint implemented since January on a provisional basis”
.
What is it ?
This is a
“safety measure”
leading to a
“raising of the minima by 300 feet”
according to the jargon used.
Clearly, a pilot must decide 90 meters higher than before if he should put his aircraft on the ground or go around.
Lack of guiding instrument
Problem: at Nantes airport, for "southern landings" when the wind is blowing from the west - which is often the case - the planes are forced to follow an offset trajectory of 12° in relation to the runway, by way of derogation, in order to limit the overflight of the city.
Above all, for this manoeuvre, the pilots are deprived of any high-precision guidance system - called ILS - which should enter service only in 2025.
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Consequence: in this case, for the moment, the pilots must rely on good visibility in order to see the runway and make a visual approach.
Problem, here again, with the raising of the minima by 300 feet, the possibility that clouds obstruct the vision of the pilots is increased.
The importance of the human factor
A change which makes say to an expert of the subject that the diversions of planes could become
“almost systematic”
at the airport of Nantes
“as soon as the visibility is not good”
and that the wind will impose a landing coming from the north.
In this regard, it is the
“human factor”,
namely the responsibility of the pilot which will be essential according to him:
“In this kind of case, they will not take any risk”.
Even if it may cause the anger of some passengers.
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On the side of the national union of airline pilots, the analysis is more succinct.
The organization does not forecast for the future but recognizes that
"bad weather conditions mean that many diversions are made at Nantes airport"
.