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Fuelstop Portugal/Spain before Atlantic Crossing

Looks like our man’s on the move again…..

In a strange direction that is!

Guess he needs to refuel first?

lenthamen wrote:

Guess he needs to refuel first?

My thoughts exactly.

Closing the airport when someone is 4 mins out. I guess these jerks dont know or care about aviation safety.

I wonder if asking the controller for the GPS coordinates of his house so you can land on his roof, would be considered a terrorist act?

KHTO, LHTL

I a similar I once just landed, on an uncontrolled airpoirt that KNEW i was coming and 5 min. out. Of course they were still there and they wanted to make a big thing out of it. They changed their mind later, especially when it was clear that I was late 1 min in the traffic pattern.

Closing the airport when someone is 4 mins out. I guess these jerks dont know or care about aviation safety.

I agree, but airport management is a job which is strongly self selecting for a particular character profile:

If that was me I would declare a mayday, citing low oil pressure, and then after landing I would be seen to top off the oil (he will need to pour in more than a quart after that flight, anyway). One might get arrested but probably it would not go anywhere because it is a Captain’s option. The aircraft better be 100% legal though because they would turn it over, looking for anything.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Piro, Exactly, Genau, Igen, thats what I meant about lazy civil servant types. Everything else in some of these southern countries runs by a slow clock. I mean really slow. Just look at them when you require something of them. Its painful to watch how slow they are. Thats after you get past all their excuses why they cant.

Of course its not limited to civil servants. In Hungary that type of mentality is held over into the private sector as well. It was at the bank came in 2 min before closing which was 4 pm. I thought they closed at 5 but thats not the point. A women came to the door as the manager was pulling out his key to lock up. She asked to be let in No F way was his answer, more or less, so for the next 5 mins she was pleading to be let in and he refused. So when it was time to let me out I made a comment “you know that was not nice” He asks what do you mean? I said “you know exactly what I mean”. Then he started to give me grief. I walked out with two other customers both agreed. One said “instead of arguing with her for 5 mins she could have been in and out cause she only wanted to make a deposit”. Although I was the only one to comment about his business practices . The rest had lived under totalitarianism too long so it was not ingrained in them to confront authority. If he had been working for me I would have fired him on the spot.

KHTO, LHTL

While I don’t disagree with the sentiments above, I do think that the pilot has to take some of the blame too.

A night flight across open water is dangerous enough. You ought not to be timing the landing so close to closing time. This is a big trip, and it should be planned professionally.

Having said that, maybe we’re making a mountain out of a mole hill. Perhaps the captain knew it was tight and was already prepared to divert and knew his options, and advised ATC of his intentions if late, and everyone was working to the same program.

I have often wondered about ATC staying on a few extra minutes at my home airfield. The trouble for them, is that they stay on a few extra minutes to “get someone home” and then people come to expect that, and plan for it, and before they know it, 5 minutes is 15 minutes, and then the 15 minutes becomes normal and they start to get the “really sorry” 30 minutes guys etc.

EIWT Weston, Ireland

I landed in Vagar from Kulkusuk with 3 minutes to spare. They would have stayed open but just would have cost me more money. I expect the same in the Azores.

EGTK Oxford

Does the control tower even have the authority to extend the opening hours? It’s not just ATC that has to stay longer, but ground workers, firefighters, etc. too.

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