Runway extension plan may see DC10s at Wgtn

Press, 29 August 1977, Page 1

Runway extension plan may see DC10s at Wgtn

Bv

LES BLOXHAM.

travel editor

The Government is considering a proposal that would enable the runway at Wellington Airport to be extended In about 275 m (900 ft without costlv reclamation work.

The plan calls for the extension of the runway at both ends on a heavily reinforced concrete base beneath which existing roads would pass. The same practice has been used extensively with success overseas.

Confirming that the plan was under investigationMr F. D. Norton, chief controller of air-services policy at the Ministry of Transport, said that about 200 m could be gained at the Evans Bay end alone.

An extension of a further 75m could be made at the southern end, where the road skirted Lyall Bay. The plan would lengthen the runway from its present 1935 m to 2210 m, a distance which might be acceptable to Air New Zealand for the use of its DC 10 aircraft.

The airport, which, in an international pilots’ survey

earlier this year earned a red-star rating as one of the world’s worst, has already been black-listed by Qantas Boeing 707 pilots.

Air New Zealand maintains a service (mainly across the Tasman) with DCBs, an operation which costs it about S3M a year.

The Government has been under pressure for some time to make a decision about the future of the airport. Air New Zealand has already made it clear that, should it be forced to maintain the uneconomic DCS service Into the 1980 s, it will have no option but to seek a subsidy from the Government to support it. If it were not for the inability of Wellington to handle modem wide-bodied aircraft. Air New Zealand could rid itself of its three remaining DCBs. The airline will soon have eight DClOs,

which can land at every other airport it serves.

Air New Zealand’s manager of public and corporate affairs (Mr Craig Saxton) said the airline believed that there was an economic market for the bigger aircraft at Welling ton.

There is a faint glimmer of hope. Air New Zealand has just completed trials at Mangere to determine whether increased flap settings will enable DClOs to land safely at reduced speed, thereby shortening their landing roll. Although he would not reveal the saving in actual distance, Mr Saxton said the tests had shown that shorter landings were possible

However, the tests had not been specifically designed to overcome the problem at Wellington. They had been carried out

with the full support _nd assistance of the McDonnell Douglas Corporation, of the United States. The Director of Civil Aviation (Mr I. F. B. Walters) said that his department was studying a report of the tests.

The revised flap settings had produced only marginal benefit — “in the order of about 100 ft to 200 ft, depending on loading, weather. and other conditions." Bearing in mind all these factors, a DCIO would need minimum runway length of 2120 m in which to land. If the Government decides to proceed with the latest proposal for extending the Wellington runway. Air New Zealand might just manage to land a DCIO and still have the equivalent width of a rugby field to spare.

However, the aircraft could still not be fully laden.