Sydney Tower Evacuated due to Fire

[Rowan McKeever]

Originally Posted by Philip Argy

Surely the old tower, or a mobile facility, should be available in an emergency for any CAT III airport. Is there no requirement under CAT III for a backup plan?

Originally Posted by David C

I’m not sure whether there is a requirement for a back up , but surely in this day and age , a “ commonsense approach “ should prevail . There should be contingency plans , but at the age I am having seen lots of water flowing under the bridge sadly nothing surprises me any more .

CAT III what exactly? CAT III ILS?

I don’t know what else you’d want to see done here? Departing aircraft were held in position on the ground, an en route controller was managing a reduced program of arrivals (and at that time of day the program probably didn’t need much reduction) down to finals, and the pilots then used their professional judgement from there. Flights with insufficient fuel or other reasons not to remain in the arrivals program took themselves out of the equation by diverting elsewhere. This all seems quite commonsense to me.

I’ve no doubt whatsoever that at a different time of day, or if the situation had gone on very much longer, or in different weather conditions, other arrangements would’ve been made. But I’ve also complete confidence in the arrangements that were made in the circumstances.