[HN Gopher] How the instrument landing system at Antarctica's Mc...
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       How the instrument landing system at Antarctica's McMurdo Station
       works
        
       Author : rmnwski
       Score  : 57 points
       Date   : 2024-08-14 09:07 UTC (4 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.flightradar24.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.flightradar24.com)
        
       | computerdl wrote:
       | How does the TLS work with multiple aircraft landing at once?
       | With ILS, the signal broadcast is static but it seems like it
       | will now be per aircraft.
        
         | FireBeyond wrote:
         | I would expect that these runways are not high volume.
         | Temporary/shifting/special needs.
        
           | chowells wrote:
           | This is about McMurdo. I'd be surprised if they ever had
           | multiple flights landing at once.
        
             | FireBeyond wrote:
             | Exactly. I could see a 'convoy' of aircraft for a resupply,
             | but I also expect even that might be just a few a day
             | (because of weather and such, to avoid excessive aborts or
             | returns due to weather or unloading delays).
        
         | dweekly wrote:
         | The entire fleet qualified for McMurdo seems to be six planes
         | and three helicopters, if I'm reading this right.
         | 
         | https://www.usap.gov/sciencesupport/scienceplanningsummaries...
         | 
         | I would guess it to be pretty rare that multiple aircraft would
         | be on approach at once, and if so, I'd imagine one could hold
         | at a distance to allow approaches to be serialized.
        
           | cozzyd wrote:
           | I've flown to/from McMurdo on a total of 4 types of planes...
           | C-17, C130 (kiwi AF), L-100 (Safari, contracted by Italian
           | antarctic program) and LC-130 (to/from pole).
        
         | cameldrv wrote:
         | There are a few other airports that have this, and my
         | understanding is that only one aircraft can do the approach at
         | a time. If another plane tunes in the ILS they will see the
         | localizer and glideslope indications for the other plane.
         | 
         | I'm not sure how the TLS figures out what transponder to look
         | at, I guess either the controller enters in the code of the
         | plane on approach or there's some reserved transponder code for
         | the approach.
        
         | phire wrote:
         | In theory, you can broadcast different signals on different
         | frequencies, one per aircraft.
        
       | gte525u wrote:
       | There a couple companies that make a DILS where the localizer and
       | glideslope can be temporarily deployed. The intent is for
       | emergency or short term use.
        
       | kylehotchkiss wrote:
       | Year round aviation access to Antartica. Well Done! Every step
       | towards McMurdo becoming a normal city despite its location seems
       | like such an incredible accomplishment.
       | 
       | Can this work at pole station too? I realize there's a lot of
       | other considerations landing there in the winter (fuel freeze
       | temp?) but the less isolated it becomes, the more science we can
       | get.
        
       | polemic wrote:
       | ICE31 in the air right now
       | https://www.flightradar24.com/ICE31/36b2c5d5
        
       | webnrrd2k wrote:
       | Landing at McMurdo Station seems a lot like landing on a giant,
       | slow-moving aircraft carrier.
       | 
       | I wonder how similar their ILS is to the ILS used on navy
       | aircraft carriers?
        
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       (page generated 2024-08-18 23:00 UTC)