MILDENHALL Wx DIVERTS

[johnwayne]

Quick question - why do Mildenhall weather diverts when wind out of limits (e.g. todays Quids) generally seem to favour Prestwick rather than Lakenheath , Fairford , Brize when they're 'in limits ' ? Presidential edict , quality of golf courses , fuel cost , airfield opening hours/services available , local hospitality , all of these , none of these ? I feel sure Bollo will know but give everyone else a chance first Paul

[Fibrous Freddie]

Lakenheath Wx will be similar to Mildenhall..
Prestwick likely to be different...

[Vulcan74]

Probably some of the above which you mentioned, maybe they would also be nearer to any planned sorties they have in that area for the next day or so.

[Stug298]

Lakenheath Wx will be similar to Mildenhall..
Prestwick likely to be different...

you are right in what you say but lakenheath is north south orientation as opposed to mildenhall east west....

[TeeJay]

MH based birds will often divert to LN, as you rightly say runways are different bearings. But not sure LN has the extra parking at present due to construction works. With various ramps closed.
Also sometimes if wind is from certain directions it can be as much a cross wind at LN as it is at MH.
Hope that helps explain a bit.

[Fibrous Freddie]

Stug... you are not quite right, I believe that the difference is 50(ish) degrees not 90, and that Lakenheath is 24/06. I accept that crosswind components may be different, however the Wx is likely to be similar.
I'll leave it there though.

[Starbuck]

Plus Lakenheath had the cables up today in prep for the days ops and Avianos to depart so presumably the KC's can't land with them rigged up.

[ColintheCaterpillar]

Prestwick has the relatively rare advantage (in the U.K.) of having a roughly NW-SE orientated runway (12/30), which when you get strong north-westerlys like today, can be very valuable.

Often held by some big RAF types as a div too, mainly due to it often being favourable for wind on certain days.

[Snoop 95]

Certainly yesterday the wind was from due North and so would have resulted in cross-wind conditons at both Lakenheath and Mildenhall. Today, however, the wind is from the North West and so will favour Mildenhall whose runway at 290 degrees is WNW and a KC 10 has just landed in that direction.

[747woody]

Weather, handling facilities, airfield opening hours, availability of fuel, accommodation etc, etc are all considerations when diverting. The decision on where to go is probably made by Operations (easier to access all the information in an office, rather than in a cramped, noisy cockpit being bounced around!), but the Captain has the ultimate decision.

KC-135s can trample cables, so that shouldn't be an issue.

[Andy Marden]

And also, I doubt if it would be legal to have a weather diversion so close to your original diversion (Lakenheath/Mildenhall).
I'm a bit out of touch now, but in my days in the RAF an aircraft would need two diversion airfields, one weather, one crash.
The crash diversion was not subject to the same distance regulation, it was for use if the runway at the original destination was blocked (cable engagement etc). So Coningsby for example would use Waddington as its crash diversion, but maybe Leeming or Brize as a weather diversion.

[page_verify]

American and British military tanker and airlift aircrew have long preferred staying over or diverting into civilian airfields because the ground service, food and accommodation is much better than what they get a military bases. It doesn't surprise me they divert into Prestwick for the same reason a lot of the AMC and AMG flights stop there rather than Mildenhall.

[Vulcan74]

Blimey the food must be bad at Mildenhall!!

[page_verify]

Blimey the food must be bad at Mildenhall!!

You're assuming an unexpected crew can physically get to a dining facility, that it's open when they get there, that they take cash or card, and they've still got food left. I learned only the other month that one particular air base in the UK is still known for the answer being no to all of those points for transiting air crew never mind diverting air crew.

[Vulcan74]

I agree it makes more sense!!

[Nighthawke]

If that refers to UK-run bases then probably correct but I think there is a big difference between UK and US facilities, at least that was my experience back in the '90s.

[page_verify]

Not an RAF base, no. The comments about Prestwick might give a clue. Or that base might've improved since all of the recent Base Ops forum posts were written about it.

[HighFlyer21]

Not an RAF base, no. The comments about Prestwick might give a clue. Or that base might've improved since all of the recent Base Ops forum posts were written about it.

Why? Was something bad said about it on there? Was all rather positive last time I read some of the PIK threads on that forum.

[page_verify]

Not an RAF base, no. The comments about Prestwick might give a clue. Or that base might've improved since all of the recent Base Ops forum posts were written about it.

Why? Was something bad said about it on there? Was all rather positive last time I read some of the PIK threads on that forum.

Got to run but I probably confused you. The posts there were positive about Prestwick but negative about Mildenhall.

[apex]

Ramstein is another airfield where weather diverts from Mildenhall go. They have used Lakenheath before but as has been said, I think it may depend on the status of the runway cables and the current ops. It can take a bit of time to get the cables rigged/de-rigged. I've seen KC-135s land at Mildenhall a couple of times with cables deployed but on those occasions the aircraft landed a bit long to avoid the the approach end cable. Not sure what the rules are regarding this.

KC-135s limits for crosswinds seem rather low compared to other types. I've been there a few times with strong crosswinds when the based Quids have diverted but at the same time other aircraft types have landed ok, with those types being anything from a C-12 to a C-130 or bigger. At the end of the day, if the winds are out of limits for your aircraft, it's a divert.