Inigo Markle-Allen
March 5th, 2004, 09:09 PM
Hey guys, I have a mountain bike race in two days in Sonorah, and I was riding up in the hills above Marin county today, and did some listening to SFO Clearance Delivery, ground and Norcal on my scanner. I heard some stuff I thought might be appreciated... the SOP ammending is up to the staff, but this is all strictly SFO's real procedures as I've heard them recently.
First off, SFO has gotta have the biggest variable amount of runway configurations... there isn't just two (West and East)...
By Default,
West Ops consists of Arrivals landing runways 28L and 28R, and departures taking off on runways 1L and 1R.
When the winds are strong out of the NW (like this evening, it was 270 at 18 gust 22), They use NorthWest ops (or runways 28 ops, whatever ya wanna call it)... in other words: Arrivals and Departures get runways 28L and 28R. The 1s are not active.
When the wind blows out of the east or the south, we get East Ops, which is Arrivals landing runways 19L and 19R, departures taking off on runways 10L and 10R.
When the winds are really strong out of the south - southwest (South Ops), they have to land and depart only runways 19L and 19R. Departing these runways is no easy endevour, because terrain to the south requires a sharp left turn by the pilot (as depicted on DPs like the DUMBARTON 6, GAP 3, LUVVE 2, MOLEN 3, and PORTE 3 - the only allowable DPs in this case).
Finally, I hear Northeast ops is used once in a blue moon, which consists of arrivals and departures on 1L and 1R. Weather has to be good enough for a visual approach though, because no instrument approaches are available due to the high terrain right before the runway.
Jeeze, that's a lot of possible runway configurations, now picture this... Each one utilizes its own set of DPs (mostly overlapping with other configurations, since sfo doesn't have THAT many DPs). I'll get to that, first, let's talk about how calm wind SFO West ops works...
Remember, this is departures from 1L and 1R, except the few international flights that require the 28s.
North thru Eastbound departures:
- During the hours of 0700-2200 local time, everyone going North thru eastbound (that includes RBL, CCR, SAC, LIN and ECA) will be assigned the SFO8 departure. Clearance is: "via the San Francisco Eight Departure, vectors to [Their fix], then as filed, maintain 15,000, departure frequency 120.9..."
- Between 2200 and 0700 local time, SFO goes into "Noise abatement" operations, and N thru E bound departures are re-assigned the QUIET 2 departure (hence the name), which is pilot nav as opposed to the SFO 8 which requires vectors to their first fix. Altitude and dep freq is the same.
Southwest through Southeast bound departures (to FLW, AVE, PXN and CZQ) get:
The PORTE3 departure (and guess what, it's pronounced "Port, as in the port of oakland) which is pilot nav. Clearance is "via the Porte 3 departure, [their fix] transition, then as filed, maintain 10,000, departure frequency 135.1..."
Also, certain departures to the South and southwest need different transitions, for instance:
Flights to San Diego go through the MCKEY intersection to LAX or SXC, so they get the Offshore 5 departure (as well as anyone else going to MCKEY, MQO, FLW, RZS, GVO or SXC).
Flights to Monterey and Salinas, and lower altitude props going farther south through BSR (below the BSR2 arrivals) will get the EUGEN5 departure, which is pilot nav and joins up with V27 and goes to BSR, SHOEY and SNS.
This goes for the north as well: short distance lower altitude commuter turboprops for airlines like united express ("Skywest") may alternatively use the pilot nav MOLEN 3 departure to Mendecino (ENI), or the REBAS 3 departure, which goes up to ENI (but this time through REBAS and SGD instead of offshore) and RBL MXW and CIC.
Finally, anyone going to Hawaii is gonna take the GAP 3 departure, vectors to ALCOA or BEBOP.
Phew! That's a lot! But wait, there's a little more... Today, SFO was in NorthWest ops, landing and departing runways 28L and 28R. It was almost the same, with one exception on the DPs.
Instead of getting the SFO8 departure for north thru eastbound a/c, they got: Ta da! The Shoreline One departure. This is a vectored departure in which the aircraft turns right heading 040 and awaits norcal to vector them to the OAK vor, then it's pilot nav to RBL, SAC or LIN (although as a shortcut Norcal was clearing them all direct those fixes, and clearance gave one guy the Shorline 1 vectors CCR, which isnt even on the chart, so it looks like they use the initial procedure and then it's mostly direct, just like the SFO8). Clearance was "via the Shoreline 1 departure, vectors Oakland, then as filed, maintain 10,000, departure frequency 120.9..."
Hehe call me crazy, but it's exciting to hear DPs you've never used before actually used for the first time. :P
Anyway, now you know how departures during normal, and northwest ops works. In addition, there are two great flow diagrams made by the FAA for bay area west and east ops. Keith, think you can host it? I don't have the capability to right now. Either way though...
Enjoy! B)
First off, SFO has gotta have the biggest variable amount of runway configurations... there isn't just two (West and East)...
By Default,
West Ops consists of Arrivals landing runways 28L and 28R, and departures taking off on runways 1L and 1R.
When the winds are strong out of the NW (like this evening, it was 270 at 18 gust 22), They use NorthWest ops (or runways 28 ops, whatever ya wanna call it)... in other words: Arrivals and Departures get runways 28L and 28R. The 1s are not active.
When the wind blows out of the east or the south, we get East Ops, which is Arrivals landing runways 19L and 19R, departures taking off on runways 10L and 10R.
When the winds are really strong out of the south - southwest (South Ops), they have to land and depart only runways 19L and 19R. Departing these runways is no easy endevour, because terrain to the south requires a sharp left turn by the pilot (as depicted on DPs like the DUMBARTON 6, GAP 3, LUVVE 2, MOLEN 3, and PORTE 3 - the only allowable DPs in this case).
Finally, I hear Northeast ops is used once in a blue moon, which consists of arrivals and departures on 1L and 1R. Weather has to be good enough for a visual approach though, because no instrument approaches are available due to the high terrain right before the runway.
Jeeze, that's a lot of possible runway configurations, now picture this... Each one utilizes its own set of DPs (mostly overlapping with other configurations, since sfo doesn't have THAT many DPs). I'll get to that, first, let's talk about how calm wind SFO West ops works...
Remember, this is departures from 1L and 1R, except the few international flights that require the 28s.
North thru Eastbound departures:
- During the hours of 0700-2200 local time, everyone going North thru eastbound (that includes RBL, CCR, SAC, LIN and ECA) will be assigned the SFO8 departure. Clearance is: "via the San Francisco Eight Departure, vectors to [Their fix], then as filed, maintain 15,000, departure frequency 120.9..."
- Between 2200 and 0700 local time, SFO goes into "Noise abatement" operations, and N thru E bound departures are re-assigned the QUIET 2 departure (hence the name), which is pilot nav as opposed to the SFO 8 which requires vectors to their first fix. Altitude and dep freq is the same.
Southwest through Southeast bound departures (to FLW, AVE, PXN and CZQ) get:
The PORTE3 departure (and guess what, it's pronounced "Port, as in the port of oakland) which is pilot nav. Clearance is "via the Porte 3 departure, [their fix] transition, then as filed, maintain 10,000, departure frequency 135.1..."
Also, certain departures to the South and southwest need different transitions, for instance:
Flights to San Diego go through the MCKEY intersection to LAX or SXC, so they get the Offshore 5 departure (as well as anyone else going to MCKEY, MQO, FLW, RZS, GVO or SXC).
Flights to Monterey and Salinas, and lower altitude props going farther south through BSR (below the BSR2 arrivals) will get the EUGEN5 departure, which is pilot nav and joins up with V27 and goes to BSR, SHOEY and SNS.
This goes for the north as well: short distance lower altitude commuter turboprops for airlines like united express ("Skywest") may alternatively use the pilot nav MOLEN 3 departure to Mendecino (ENI), or the REBAS 3 departure, which goes up to ENI (but this time through REBAS and SGD instead of offshore) and RBL MXW and CIC.
Finally, anyone going to Hawaii is gonna take the GAP 3 departure, vectors to ALCOA or BEBOP.
Phew! That's a lot! But wait, there's a little more... Today, SFO was in NorthWest ops, landing and departing runways 28L and 28R. It was almost the same, with one exception on the DPs.
Instead of getting the SFO8 departure for north thru eastbound a/c, they got: Ta da! The Shoreline One departure. This is a vectored departure in which the aircraft turns right heading 040 and awaits norcal to vector them to the OAK vor, then it's pilot nav to RBL, SAC or LIN (although as a shortcut Norcal was clearing them all direct those fixes, and clearance gave one guy the Shorline 1 vectors CCR, which isnt even on the chart, so it looks like they use the initial procedure and then it's mostly direct, just like the SFO8). Clearance was "via the Shoreline 1 departure, vectors Oakland, then as filed, maintain 10,000, departure frequency 120.9..."
Hehe call me crazy, but it's exciting to hear DPs you've never used before actually used for the first time. :P
Anyway, now you know how departures during normal, and northwest ops works. In addition, there are two great flow diagrams made by the FAA for bay area west and east ops. Keith, think you can host it? I don't have the capability to right now. Either way though...
Enjoy! B)