Q: What person or group of people makes the decision on when to reverse the landing and takeoff direction at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta? What parameters must be in place? Is there a time when the takeoff/landing direction on the two north runways is opposite that on the three south runways? Once the decision to reverse direction is made, how long does the process usually take?
-- Paul E. White, Stone Mountain
A: It is based on the direction of the wind and weather. "In the optimum operation, aircraft land and depart into the wind," Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen told Q&A on the News in an e-mail. Three facilities -- the FAA Airport Traffic Control Tower, radar approach control in Peachtree City and the enroute center in Hampton -- collaborate on when to "turn around the airport," and the final decision is made by supervisors in the tower. "They choose a time that will result in the least impact for all involved -- the airport, the airlines and air traffic control," she wrote. The process usually takes about 10 minutes. Bergen added that air traffic control also coordinates with National Weather Service meteorologists, who are in the enroute center, to determine when changing the operation will have the least impact on flights. "However, convective weather moves in quickly, and unanticipated changes in wind direction may cause an unplanned change in the operation," she wrote. Takeoffs and landings always are in the same direction for all five parallel runways -- aligned east/west -- at Hartsfield-Jackson. Bergen wrote that opposite direction operations would be unsafe, as the runways and final approach courses are too close together.
Lori Johnston wrote this column. Do you have a question about the news? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or e-mail q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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