Rwy 24L vs Rwy 24R

[[email protected]]

Hi everyone, I have a general question about runways. In Montreal for
example (CYUL) or anywhere else. What would be a factor making planes
land on Rwy 24L vs landing on 24R. I understand that prevailing winds
play a role in determining if its 24L or 06L, but I cant figure how
they decide to use left or right.

thanks again!

[Roy Smith]

> wrote:
>Hi everyone, I have a general question about runways. In Montreal for
>example (CYUL) or anywhere else. What would be a factor making planes
>land on Rwy 24L vs landing on 24R. I understand that prevailing winds
>play a role in determining if its 24L or 06L, but I cant figure how
>they decide to use left or right.

Typically they'll use one for departures and the other for arrivals.
If they're different lengths, they'll usually use the longer one for
departures, since the departing planes usually need more distance
because they're heavy with fuel.

If things are not busy, they'll probably assign individual flights to
the left or right runway based on which involves less taxiing to get
to or from.

[Steven P. McNicoll]

> wrote in message
ups.com...
>
> Hi everyone, I have a general question about runways. In Montreal for
> example (CYUL) or anywhere else. What would be a factor making planes
> land on Rwy 24L vs landing on 24R. I understand that prevailing winds
> play a role in determining if its 24L or 06L, but I cant figure how
> they decide to use left or right.
>

Airport layout, runway length, approaches serving the runways versus the
current weather, etc., etc., etc.

[Gene Seibel]

One may involve a shorter taxi to the terminal. Often airline terminals
will be on one side of the field and and general aviation on the other.
There may be other factors too.
--
Gene Seibel
Tales of Flight - http://pad39a.com/gene/tales.html
Because I fly, I envy no one.

[Peter R.]

Roy Smith > wrote:

<snip>
> If things are not busy, they'll probably assign individual flights to
> the left or right runway based on which involves less taxiing to get
> to or from.

I have observed that it could also be the presence of an ILS Category II or
III approach to one runway, but not the other.

--
Peter

[[email protected]]

Thanks for all the answers everyone!!!

[Don Tuite]

On 26 Apr 2006 11:50:13 -0700, wrote:

>Hi everyone, I have a general question about runways. In Montreal for
>example (CYUL) or anywhere else. What would be a factor making planes
>land on Rwy 24L vs landing on 24R. I understand that prevailing winds
>play a role in determining if its 24L or 06L, but I cant figure how
>they decide to use left or right.
>
>thanks again!

Other folk's answers seem to be assuming commercial IFR traffic. In
my experience in general aviation VFR, the assignment is based in part
on where you are when you first call in. Based on that, you'll get
assigned the base or downwind entry that involves the least
maneuvering.

(Sometimes, as is the case at Palo Alto, in California, one runway may
have traffic patterns on each side. Which one you're assigned depends
on where you're coming from.)

For practicing touch and goes, instructors with lower-time primary
students may request the longer runway.

Don

[Jim Macklin]

Noise, taxi distance to the ramp, type of approach on each
runway.



> wrote in message
ups.com...
| Hi everyone, I have a general question about runways. In
Montreal for
| example (CYUL) or anywhere else. What would be a factor
making planes
| land on Rwy 24L vs landing on 24R. I understand that
prevailing winds
| play a role in determining if its 24L or 06L, but I cant
figure how
| they decide to use left or right.
|
| thanks again!
|

[Peter R.]

Don Tuite > wrote:

> Other folk's answers seem to be assuming commercial IFR traffic. In
> my experience in general aviation VFR, the assignment is based in part
> on where you are when you first call in. Based on that, you'll get
> assigned the base or downwind entry that involves the least
> maneuvering.

At Palm Springs, CA, VFR traffic tend to be vectored to the parallel runway
that provides them the closest taxi to the FBO, given that there is one FBO
east and one west of the runways, not the runway requiring the least amount
of maneuvering. :)



--
Peter

[Skywise]

wrote in news:1146077413.659796.24140
@y43g2000cwc.googlegroups.com:

> Hi everyone, I have a general question about runways. In Montreal for
> example (CYUL) or anywhere else. What would be a factor making planes
> land on Rwy 24L vs landing on 24R. I understand that prevailing winds
> play a role in determining if its 24L or 06L, but I cant figure how
> they decide to use left or right.
>
> thanks again!

I recall once when listening to traffic on LiveATC one busy
evening, the pilots were being asked which side they wanted.

Brian
--
http://www.skywise711.com - Lasers, Seismology, Astronomy, Skepticism
Seismic FAQ: http://www.skywise711.com/SeismicFAQ/SeismicFAQ.html
Quake "predictions": http://www.skywise711.com/quakes/EQDB/index.html
Sed quis custodiet ipsos Custodes?

[Matt Barrow]

"Peter R." > wrote in message
...
> Roy Smith > wrote:
>
> <snip>
>> If things are not busy, they'll probably assign individual flights to
>> the left or right runway based on which involves less taxiing to get
>> to or from.
>
> I have observed that it could also be the presence of an ILS Category II
> or
> III approach to one runway, but not the other.
>

Many airports use one or the other for touch & go's almost exclusively.


--
Matt
---------------------
Matthew W. Barrow
Site-Fill Homes, LLC.
Montrose, CO

[Matt Barrow]

"Gene Seibel" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> One may involve a shorter taxi to the terminal. Often airline terminals
> will be on one side of the field and and general aviation on the other.
> There may be other factors too.
Note how many of the parallel runways have the longer on closer to the
terminal. Also note how many have one of them appreciably longer.

One exception is the two N-S runways at Colorado Springs -- they have the
terminal right in between them.


--
Matt
---------------------
Matthew W. Barrow
Site-Fill Homes, LLC.
Montrose, CO

[Matt Barrow]

"Don Tuite" > wrote in message
...
>
> Other folk's answers seem to be assuming commercial IFR traffic. In
> my experience in general aviation VFR, the assignment is based in part
> on where you are when you first call in. Based on that, you'll get
> assigned the base or downwind entry that involves the least
> maneuvering.
>
> (Sometimes, as is the case at Palo Alto, in California, one runway may
> have traffic patterns on each side. Which one you're assigned depends
> on where you're coming from.)
>
> For practicing touch and goes, instructors with lower-time primary
> students may request the longer runway.
>
The airports I've flown from will run T&G's from one (usually the shorter)
then shift you over to the other for your full stop.


--
Matt
---------------------
Matthew W. Barrow
Site-Fill Homes, LLC.
Montrose, CO

[Robert M. Gary]

Depends where you are parking. Airlines and GA pilots will request
certain runways to limit taxi time. Often the GA/military/airlines are
on different sides of the fields so they generally get that most
advantageous runway for their location.

-Robert

[Robert M. Gary]

I've also found that if I depart IFR I"m more likely to get the
airline's runway than the GA runway at most airports.

-Robert

[Roy Smith]

In article m>,
>I've also found that if I depart IFR I"m more likely to get the
>airline's runway than the GA runway at most airports.

That's certainly true at HPN. 16-34 is the big runway used by jets,
but spam cans often depart 11, mostly because it's a whole lot less
taxiing from the GA ramp. Except IFR. If you're IFR and ask to
depart 11, you'll almost always get turned down and sent to 16 or 34.

[Jon Woellhaf]

Years ago I was a passenger on an airliner landing at Stapleton in Denver,
Colorado. I was listening to ATC and for some reason the cabin crew wasn't
blabbering. We had been cleared for the visual to 17L and were on about a
five mile final when the tower asked if we wanted 17R. One of the crew said
yes and requested to "fly the runway." That was approved. We made a smooth
transition to line up with 17R, whose threshold was about 5000 feet south of
the left runway's. From my window seat on the left side of the plane I
watched as we flew and then taxied past many planes waiting on the taxiway
between the runways. We turned off at the end and taxied west a short
distance to our gate. I'd never heard of "fly the runway" before, and I
haven't heard of it since. While leaving the plane I told the captain how
cool I thought that maneuver was. "Yeah," he said with a smile, "we passed
about a dozen planes with that one!"

[Greg Farris]

A typical configuration for more recent airport development consists of
parallel runways on opposite sides of the airport, with land-side
facilities in the center. Expansion plans for this configuration often
consist of doubling these, so there is a takeoff and landing runway on
each side. In this type of configuration, because the runways are spaced
by a relatively great distance, and because they don't want to have a lot
of traffic crossing over, the runway choice is often determined (in
addition to all of the other considerations already mentioned here) by
the departure and arrival procedures. In the case of a 06/24 you may find
that traffic departing to the north and west is more often sent to
06L/24R, and their departure procedure never brings them anywhere near
the 06R/24L traffic departing to the south and east. Same for arrival
procedures.

GF

[alexy]

"Matt Barrow" > wrote:

>
>"Gene Seibel" > wrote in message
ups.com...
>> One may involve a shorter taxi to the terminal. Often airline terminals
>> will be on one side of the field and and general aviation on the other.
>> There may be other factors too.
>Note how many of the parallel runways have the longer on closer to the
>terminal. Also note how many have one of them appreciably longer.
>
>One exception is the two N-S runways at Colorado Springs -- they have the
>terminal right in between them.

Another example is Atlanta, where the terminal is midfield, with two
of the four parallel(E-W) runways north of the terminal and two (soon
to be three) south of the terminal.
--
Alex -- Replace "nospam" with "mail" to reply by email. Checked infrequently.

[[email protected]]

You could always ask them what their policy is - or if there is any
policy at all. It may be whatever the controller on duty thinks
appropriate. I used to fly out of an airport with parallel runways, and
noticed that they seemed to prefer the left one (which was slightly
wider) when traffic was light. If it was busy, both would be in use,
with left traffic on the left and right traffic on the right.

Some years ago I flew into a very busy parallel runway airport in the
SF Bay area. The controller told me
to "follow the plane ahead" - which I did until on final. Since he
hadn't cleared me to land, I asked. Guess
what? He had forgotten me - and at tle last possible moment switched me
from the right to the left. If there was conflicting traffic I never
saw it - and still don't know why the switch.

David Johnson

[Journeyman]

In article om>, wrote:
> Hi everyone, I have a general question about runways. In Montreal for
> example (CYUL) or anywhere else. What would be a factor making planes
> land on Rwy 24L vs landing on 24R. I understand that prevailing winds
> play a role in determining if its 24L or 06L, but I cant figure how
> they decide to use left or right.

Lots of reasons already posted. In particular at Trudeau International,
24R is longer (11,000' vs 9000') and gets the "bigger" traffic. The GA
terminals are right off 24L. In fact, coming in 06R, it's common to
stay in ground effect for a few thousand feet to make for shorter taxi
on the runway (you get off at L, which is only a couple thousand feet
short of the departure end of 06R).

Other airports, such as PDX (Portland, OR) have similar arrangements.
San Jose, CA has runways 12L/R (30R/L) and 13. GA lands on on 13/31

It's not a parallel, but Ottawa International (MacDonald-Cartier) has
an entirely separate airport for small GA. Look at runway 04/22 (and
according to the airport diagram in the CFS, it looks like there may
have once been a 35/17).

The flight school that used to be based at CYUL seems to be long gone,
but when I started training there, there was one time coming back from
the North on a right base for 24L. The Air Canada pilot on a straight
in to 24L calls the tower and says, "Is that little Cessna Supposed
to be there?" Tower says, "Yes, and he's looking good. He'll be off
before you get there."

They did give me an odd one last year in the winter when my nose wheel
was shy about coming out: they told me to make right traffic for 24L
and overfly 24R on upwind. Fortunately, the gear came down after I
slowed down a little more.

On another recent occasion, I made a controller at CYUL laugh. The
active runway was 24L, but Taxiway R was blocked by construction so
they offered an intersection departure at L. He said something to
to the effect that there was (something like) 7000' available and would
this be acceptable? I told him it was a stretch, but I thought I
could manage it.


Morris

[Brien K. Meehan]

Skywise wrote:
> I recall once when listening to traffic on LiveATC one busy
> evening, the pilots were being asked which side they wanted.

At PTK, they often ask where you're parking, and assign your landing
runway based on that. If I hear them asking everyone where they're
parking, I'll tell them on initial contact, and they handle that as a
request.

[Marty Shapiro]

Journeyman > wrote in
:

>
> Other airports, such as PDX (Portland, OR) have similar arrangements.
> San Jose, CA has runways 12L/R (30R/L) and 13. GA lands on on 13/31

There is no runway 13 at SJC. They have 11/29, 12R/30L, and 12L/30R.
Before 12L/30R was lengthened, GA used both outside runways (11/29,
12L/30R) and the airlines used 12R/30L. Now GA is mostly on 11/29, with
12R/30L used for landing traffice and 12L/30R for departures.

--
Marty Shapiro
Silicon Rallye Inc.

(remove SPAMNOT to email me)

[Journeyman]

In article >, Marty Shapiro wrote:
>>
>> Other airports, such as PDX (Portland, OR) have similar arrangements.
>> San Jose, CA has runways 12L/R (30R/L) and 13. GA lands on on 13/31
>
> There is no runway 13 at SJC. They have 11/29, 12R/30L, and 12L/30R.
> Before 12L/30R was lengthened, GA used both outside runways (11/29,
> 12L/30R) and the airlines used 12R/30L. Now GA is mostly on 11/29, with
> 12R/30L used for landing traffice and 12L/30R for departures.

I stand corrected. I flew into that airport recently, but only sat
in row 23.


Morris (prefers the front left seat)