Interesting airports

[Hardy Heinlin]

Anybody ever been to Ölgii airport in Mongolia? (ICAO: ZMUL)

If my database is correct, the runway length is 7874 feet and the elevation difference between the two thresholds is 1092 feet.

That makes a slope angle of nearly 8 degrees. If you want to land there downhill at a normal 3 degree glideslope you'll have to take a total of 11 degrees. -- I guess they always land uphill :-)


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[Avi]

Something must be wrong here.
According to Google Earth one side of the runway is at altitude of 1757m and the second one is at 1720m.
The difference is only about 120ft (which is normal for a "grass" runway according to Wikipedia).
Even if the altitudes in GE are wrong, the difference is still too big.

[Hardy Heinlin]

Thank you. I think I'll change that manually.


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[Phil Bunch]

At 7874 feet, it would seem to be long enough for a 744.  However, it's grass according to wikipedia.

Can a 744 land on grass?  Perhaps special tires are needed (grins).

Several airlines go there:

    * Aero Mongolia (Ulan Bator)
    * Eznis Airways (Ulan Bator)
    * MIAT Mongolian Airlines
    * SCAT (Almaty via Oskemen)

A few years ago, as part of a business trip from New York to Brussels then Tokyo and back to NY (around the world), I flew from Brussels to Tokyo across Russia/China and (I think) Mongolia.  

There is a narrow air corridor without radar tracking that one uses to fly this route.  I believe airliners leave their landing lights on or flash them so they can avoid running into one another.  In addition to being a very long flight, it was strange being so far away from civilization yet still over land.  Easier not to think about it!  I wonder if anyone has ever needed to make an emergency landing in that part of the world?   Even a grass-covered air strip would look better than unimproved land.

[Will]

I read an article in Smithsonian magazine a while back about the C5-A Galaxy.  Apparently it was designed as an all-purpose heavy lifter and could land on grass strips.  The article mentions a promotional video that the Army made, apparently showing an off-field operation. It'd be nice to see.

[Hardy Heinlin]

After the correction (a "5" was replaced by a "6"), the greatest runway slope in the database is now SVTM, Tumeremo Airport, Venezuela.

Length: 9765 ft

Elev:
Rwy08: 344 ft
Rwy26: 125 ft

Slope: ca. 1.3 deg


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[Zinger]

The C-5a was originally designed to also operate off relatively short unprepared strips (maximum landing weight run 1500m). One of its interesting original design features was landing in a crab during strong crosswind, while the landing gear was aligned with the landing strip, at an angle to the fuselage.This allowed the large underwing turbofans to stay safely above objects near the strips.

I read an article in Smithsonian magazine a while back about the C5-A Galaxy.  Apparently it was designed as an all-purpose heavy lifter and could land on grass strips.  The article mentions a promotional video that the Army made, apparently showing an off-field operation. It'd be nice to see.

[Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers]

I think the B52 still has that crabbed gear feature.

[Zinger]

Nice photo, B-52s also have wingtip undercarriage, as the wing flexes down substantially when fuel is loaded. The cockpit shown to me looks like a special, non-standard configuration.

[Hardy Heinlin]

After the correction (a "5" was replaced by a "6"), the greatest runway slope in the database is now SVTM, Tumeremo Airport, Venezuela.

Length: 9765 ft

Elev:
Rwy08: 344 ft
Rwy26: 125 ft

Slope: ca. 1.3 deg

Heck, I can't enter this slope in the FMC :-)

1.3° is 2.2%.

Max valid entry is 2.0.

It's a 744 limitation.


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[Hardy Heinlin]

Ulan Bator, Mongolia, ZMUB:

Elevations in my database:
Rwy 14: 4150 ft
Rwy 32: 4363 ft
This makes a slope of 2.1%, too much for the 744.

With these data ...
http://worldaerodata.com/wad.cgi?runway=MG0000132
... the slope is even slightly larger.

On an old Jeppesen chart, rwy 32 elevation is only 4314 ft. Perhaps there has been a typo introduced in the government data a few years ago, or the slope is really so large.

I guess not only the 744 is limited to a 2% slope?


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P.S.: The ILS G/S slope is still 2.67° like on the old Jepp chart. The reason why it's below the 3° standard is probably the extreme uphill runway. If the runway hasn't changed ever since, the above problem must be a typo -- or Godzilla walked by.

[Jeroen D]

On the B52 cockpit lay-out; wasn't that the initial lay-out for the very first B52's? Pretty soon changed to the standard cockpit lay out.

Jeroen