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- Knock
Airport capable of dealing with most airline
emergencies
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- By Michael Commins
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- THE ill-fated Swissair jet that crashed near the
coast of Nova Scotia last Wednesday night with the loss
of all 229 people on board was due to fly through Irish
airspace on its journey to Geneva. The plane would have
reached landfall over the southern region of Kerry and
Cork about ninety minutes from its destination in
Switzerland.
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- A spokesperson at Shannon Air Traffic Control
confirmed that the doomed airliner was due to fly an
oceanic route which would have taken it along the
southern tip of Ireland. "Weather conditions in the
Atlantic are the chief deciding factors when mapping the
oceanic tracks. These tracks are compiled twice daily for
east bound and west bound aircraft. Ireland is in the
path of a big volume of trans-Atlantic flights," he
said.
- How well prepared is Knock
Airport to deal with a full blown emergency? A
spokesperson at the Airport confirmed that Horan Airport
has a capacity to deal with up to 80% of
aircraft.....including the Concorde. "However,
performance specifications at landing can be a major
factor and this would apply in relation to 747's with
virtually full tanks. A number of things come into play
when dealing with such emergenices. However, Shannon is
of course the main emergency centre on the west
coast."
- The Swissair plane was in contact was Canadian Air
Traffic Controllers at Moncton in New Brunswick when the
emergency developed and had reached its normal cruising
height at the time. As the major international airport in
Gander was still quite a distance away, it was decided to
try an emergency landing in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The
plane was within seven minutes of reaching Halifax when
it crashed into the Atlantic ocean, a few miles from
shore.
- By a remarkable coincidence, Halifax also commands a
special place in the navigational history between Canada
and Europe. It was from Halifax that the very first
transatlantic steamship service to England was
inaugurated back in 1840.
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- Atlantic control
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- Transatlantic flights from USA/Canada to Europe are
in regular contact with the Shanwick Control Radio Centre
(a term merging Shannon and Prestwick) from once they
cross the 30% West line. Prior to this they are in
regular contact with Gander ATC in Newfoundland. This is
located at Ballygreen, a few miles from Shannon. Shannon
and Santa Maria in the Azores are the chief regulating
"stations" for all these aircraft. Many shortwave
enthusiasts who own communications receivers tune in on a
regular basis to the exchanges and flight information
that fill the airwaves every night as the jets progress
over the Atlantic for their early morning destinations in
Europe.
- The prevailing weather over the Atlantic is the main
deciding factor when filing a flight map. The oceanic
tracks can vary accordingly. More satellite equipment is
now in use in relation to various aspects of
communications.
- However, ground based navigational aids continue to
play an important role such as the secondary surveillance
radar at Duncarton (Glencad) in Erris, North Mayo. It
enables better coverage and a fast and direct way of
identifying all planes. Shortwave still plays a major
role in all long distance communications over the
Atlantic before the VHF system comes into its own when
traffic comes within around the 200 mile radius of the
Irish coast.
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- Pan Am Flight could have come down
in Mayo
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- Back in December 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 opted for a
northerly course because of strong winds and inclement
weather in the mid-Atlantic region. It duly proceeded
from London through the English midlands before the bomb
explosion brought it down over the Scottish town of
Lockerbie.
- Normally, that flight would have taken either a route
which would have taken it in over Wexford or a more
northerly one which would have reached landfall in the
Dublin/Louth area. Research carried out at the time,
taking into consideration the length between take-off and
the explosion, revealed that the Pan Am flight, had it
taken this route, would have come down somewhere between
the Shannon river and Belmullet, most likely over some
part of East Mayo.
- In 1985, an Air India jet with over 300 people on
board was blown out of the skies by a terrorist bomb a
few hundred miles off the Cork/Kerry coast. The flight
had originated in Canada.
- • The huge increase in "tonnage volume" in the
skies over Ireland is a growing source of worry. A vast
amount of this traffic flies directly over Mayo,
Roscommon and Galway. So far, this country has remained
relatively free of any such major accidents. But we
should always be aware of the potential danger. Had the
emergency developed a few hours later on the doomed
Swissair jet, the south Munster region may have been all
too well aware of such dangers from the sky.
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