China tells pilots: learn to land in smog

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China tells pilots: learn to land in smog
Latest official missive on air pollution is part of effort to cut chronic flight delays that have led to passenger revolts




Beijing shrouded in smog. Photograph: Guang Niu/Getty Images
Chinese authorities have told pilots who fly to Beijing they must be qualified to land their aircraft in the low visibility bought about by smog – the latest missive related to the capital's heavy air pollution, which the government this week lauded as a beneficial shield against missile attacks.

From 1 January pilots flying from the country's 10 busiest airports into the Chinese capital must be qualified to use an instrument landing system on days when smog reduces visibility to around 400 metres (1,315 feet), the official China Daily said, citing China's civil aviation regulator.

"It is part of a series of measures the administration took recently to raise the flights' on-time performance," the newspaper quoted an unnamed aviation official as saying.

Despite investing billions of dollars in new airports and advanced western-built aircraft China suffers a chronic problem with flight delays, partly because of its often wildly fluctuating weather but also because the military tightly controls most of China's airspace.

Chinese media frequently reports fights, attacks on airport and airline workers and passengers storming aircraft in response to delays and the poor way they are handled. The government has demanded airlines and airports address the issue.

In recent years smog has added to the delays, especially in Beijing but also in other parts of the country like Shanghai.

"Considering the recent smog and haze has bought numerous troubles to air transport in eastern and southern regions, it seems necessary for authorities to ask pilots to improve their landing capability in low visibility," the China Daily quoted Ouyang Jie, a professor at Civil Aviation University of China, as saying.

The report added that only a handful of Chinese airports have the instrument landing systems required for aircraft to land in poor visibility.

Air quality in cities is of increasing concern to China's stability-obsessed leaders, anxious to douse potential unrest as a more affluent urban population turns against a driver for economic growth that has poisoned much of the country's air, water and soil.

China's state media came under fire this week for arguing the smog had benefits: it could hinder the use of guided missiles by enemies as well as helping Chinese people's sense of humour by causing a proliferation of smog jokes.
 

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Pues antes que los pilotos, habrá que dotar a todos los aeropuertos de ILS CAT III y ayudaría un buen autoland en las aeronaves jejejeje.
 

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El multimillonario Chen Guangbiao, quien hace unos días apareció en las calles de Pekín para hacer lo impensable: regalar “aire puro enlatado”. En las latas, verdes y amarillas, se leía la frase “Chen Guangbiao es un hombre bueno”, y contenían aire fresco.
 
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China's Extreme Smog Forces Pilots to Train for Blind Landings

China's Extreme Smog Forces Pilots to Train for Blind Landings



An aircraft is barely visible through thick smog on the tarmac of Hongqiao airport in Shanghai as severe pollution blankets the city on Dec. 6



Take a flight in China, and there’s a decent chance your flight will be delayed. The nation’s notoriously congested airports are dealing this month with the onset of a particularly extreme bout of lung-choking pollution, which lowers visibility and contributes to airline troubles.

In response, Chinese authorities have mandated that pilots at domestic airlines who fly into the 10 most congested airports be qualified to land when visibility falls below 400 meters (1,300 feet), Bloomberg News reported today, citing the Civil Aviation Administration of China. Currently, domestic flights are diverted when visibility falls below 400 meters. Under the new rule, pilots will need to be rated to land airplanes using the precision auto-landing instruments on most Airbus (EAD:FP) and Boeing (BA) models. Those trickier airport approaches, using radio waves, are the same type that were discussed for bad weather when U.S. regulators decided recently to allow wireless devices in flight. Passengers must still power down their gadgets when the pilot says so.

Chinese officials are aiming to curb flight delays at Beijing Capital and Shanghai Pudong airports, which are marred by two of the world’s worst records for on-time flights. Bloomberg reported that in October, Beijing and Shanghai had on-time departure rates of 38 percent and 39 percent, respectively, the worst among 35 major international airports, according to FlightStats.


The rules apply only to China’s domestic pilots and won’t affect training for U.S. aviators. A spokeswoman for United (UAL), the U.S. airline with the most service to China, says its operations have not been affected by pollution. A FedEx (FDX) spokesman said Friday it has been “business as usual” for its China flights. American (AAL) and Delta (DAL) had no immediate comment.

The kind of low-visibility approach mandated in China has become common for many U.S. carriers, particularly Alaska Airlines (ALK), which has pioneered such landings in Alaska, where fog and rain are frequent. The company says such equipment and pilot training save it about $15 million annually, because cancellations and diversions on flights to Alaskan airports have been reduced. (Here’s an FAA video of the precision approach into Juneau, which, to be clear, is a more sophisticated variety than the instrument approaches required in China starting Jan. 1.)

The technology allows airplanes to follow a precise path even when pilots can’t see much, says Sean Cassidy, an Alaska Airlines captain and national safety coordinator for the Air Line Pilots Association, the largest U.S. pilot union. “Basically you’re monitoring the airplane all the way to when it touches down, and you take over when the airplane starts to slow down on the runway,” he says.


China is plagued with severe pollution made worse in winter due to a heavy reliance on coal-fired power plants to heat homes. The nation also has massive industrial factories that contribute smog to the atmosphere and tens of millions of drivers, leading to frequent congestion on freeways.

Cassidy, a former military pilot who flew in China, says the worst travel-related impact of the country’s air pollution isn’t on U.S. airline operations but on their crews who fly there. “Just because of the air quality, walking, breathing, and trying to exercise—all the things you do on a normal layover—that’s when it becomes hard,” he says.
 
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