Alexander Avtanski wrote in
:

Hello,

On Aug 19, 5:14*pm, "Mike" wrote:
"Alexander Avtanski" wrote in message
[...]
I just came back from a walk outside my office in Santa Clara.
*Aroun
d
3:00pm I saw something quite unusual - while all the planes from
San Jose International were taking off in N-W direction, there was
a single plane (something that looked a bit like MD-80) that seemed
to _land_ coming from N-W, exactly opposite the rest of the
traffic.
[...]

From the description, the MD-80 was probably an emergency coming in
for a landing and was allowed to land opposite direction for
expediency. *He
could
have had a mechanical problem, a fuel problem, or a medical
emergency.
*It
happens all the time.

Thanks Mike! I was beginning to think that maybe they changed the
traffic
direction and I saw the last plane landing in the old sequence. But
after reading
your mail I remembered about the archive radar tracks for SFO Bay Area
( http://live.airportnetwork.com/sfo/ ). Looking at the data shortly
after 3pm
found the plane I saw:

http://avtanski.net/images/var/sjc_20080819_2.jpg

Here the two green planes are the ones taking from SJC in NW direction
and
turning left; the "opposite" plane is the red one - landing against
all the traffic!
Well, maybe he is British...


You can land any way you like. If the traffic is light, ATC will slot
you in either by their own request or by your own. It's pretty common,
actually, and if the winds are light, not an issue. Normally most
airliners have a tailwind limit of 12 to 15 knots, and in some
instances, higher. The most common reason to do it is to save time, of
course. These days it's geting more common in order to save fuel.


Bertie