Aircraft that are forced to make an emergency landing after taking off from Otopeni or before landing at this airport, in the event of aircraft malfunctions or problems on the ground, are forced to cross the Carpathians, even in one engine, to Sibiu .
For any flight, a reserve airport is established, at takeoff or landing, which can be used in the event of a malfunction of the aircraft or problems at the originally established airport.
Naturally, in the case of “Henri Coandă” Otopeni International Airport, the nearest airport, which could be established as a backup, is Băneasa.
However, due to insufficient safety measures on the ground, Băneasa is not designated as a reserve airport for Otopeni.
Carpathians, mandatory challenge
According to civil aviation rules, the alternate airport must be located at a maximum distance of 30 minutes – one hour’s flight from the originally established airport.
In the case of “Henri Coandă” Otopeni, Sibiu is established, most of the time, as a reserve airport.
This means that an aircraft with one engine failure, for example, is forced to cross the Carpathian Mountains on one engine.
Sources from the National Air Transport Company TAROM SA explained, for the national daily “Romania liberă”, that even very experienced pilots have emotions, if they are put in the situation of crossing the Carpathian Mountains with a single-engine aircraft.
Why not Craiova or Constanța
Considering the distance, the airports of Craiova or Constanța could have been established as reserves for “Henri Coandă” Otopeni.
In Craiova, however, works are being carried out on a track.
“Mihail Kogălniceanu” Constanța is rarely given a backup airport for “Henri Coandă” Otopeni, due to the multiple exercises with military aircraft carried out there.
Even Brașov is not a backup solution for Otopeni, also due to insufficient passenger verification/safety measures, as in the case of Băneasa.
Baneasa was the capital’s first airport.
It was built on land made available as a donation by the same owners of the Băneasa Farm land who built the building of the Aeroclub Romania on Kisellef Boulevard.
After 1990, TAROM operated domestic and foreign flights from Baneasa Airport and private companies also appeared, because the fees were lower.
The peak of traffic was reached with the operation of BlueAir and Wizzair simultaneously with the hard-to-explain withdrawal of TAROM on Otopeni.
PD-L changed the management of the airport and, under the pretext of unifying the management, transferred Baneasa Airport to the newly established AIBO company.
Over the years, the land of Baneasa Airport has been an important target for real estate sharks.
In 2002 an ATR race took off on runway 07 and returned on runway 25.
If at takeoff the crew did not notice anything abnormal, on the return, being on the landing slope, they noticed the rise of a mobile phone antenna exactly on the needle of the runway and only about 20 meters below the plane.
Following the notification, the antenna was removed.
In 2022, the press reported a real estate project that illegally built a block in the axis of runway 07, a building with a height that exceeded the permitted level by about 3-5 floors and that was about 30-40 meters below the landing slope.
Because of the “heavy” in the area, the closure of the ROMAERO factory and the airport was strongly forced.
Read also:
Technical Directorate of TAROM, broken from the state company. What it means for the air carrier
Watch Free Romania on X, Facebook and Google News!
Tags: EXCLUSIVE Baneasa left reserve airport Otopeni planes Otopeni forced cross mountains engine case emergency
-
