Intersection take off

Hi - what’s wrong with an intersection take off (i.e. joining the runway from 2/3rds of the way down rather than taxi all the way to the end)? Controller wouldn’t let me do it and referred me to ‘check ATC tutorials’ - perhaps because that’s the only comment they have available to them within IF, but there is no ATC tutorial/guidelines on joining the runway at an intersection as far as I can see. Surely, if you have a small aircraft that doesn’t require the full runway then offering to join the runway from an intersection and starting your take off from there could be useful for spacing and managing traffic. I’ve seen it in the real world, why not on IF?

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Depends. 2/3 of which runway and which aircraft (e.g. GA?) . Also, which server was this on?

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If you’re at an airport with lots of traffic waiting to take off at the end of the runway, then it’s best to join the queue rather than try an intersection departure - Expert controllers don’t like this - mostly because it creates confusion for them, as well as not demonstrating the best etiquette.

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This may be helpful -

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@Mr_Incognito… MaxSez: Spot on! I’m a GA driver and attempt Intersection Departures (ID) daily. Unfortunately the Comm menu’s do not support this perfectly legal “Pilots Choice” evolution. I get lucky on the Exp from time to time when I get a Tower Operator who understands the benefits of ID’s and VFR/Flow Control procedures. On the Trainer it’s a crap shoot. On those occasions when I had ID success I’ve slid into an intersection Rwy entry to the hold line. The competent Tower accepts your launch request and give you the go. The IFR only trained Tower fumbles fir a minute then ignore you or tells you to read the totes. At that point just punch out, the Operator is a trainee or incompetent. Move on. Regards, Max

(Note this Topic/procedure has been covered over the years and never acted on. I expect you’ll get the same result Mr. Incognito, suck it up!)

PS: Fledglings consider ID’s cheating and jumping the taxi Q. Eventually the get the word, the procedure reduces congestion.

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But take TNCM for instance… If your a GA aircraft during the busy times, they will tell you to taxi to Taxiway C which they can takeoff from that point in the runway. As it gets more smaller traffic out and so the charter flights stay on time

@Balloonchaser… We talkin IF my son. In the RW you can express your desires verbally with the Operator clearly. As you know there is a failure to communicate problem we live with on this platform, it’s the nature of the beast. We live with it and anticipate change in 5 or 6 years LOL. Max

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TS1 or Expert if it’s Expert let me know the tower and I’ll do some internet yelling!

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Nothing wrong with intersection departures. But… I try to keep track of where you are in the queue, so don’t be surprised if a number of aircraft waiting at full length takeoff ahead of you.

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Thanks for all the replies peeps. It was on Expert. I know who the controller was (because I checked) but I don’t really want to publicly criticise someone so would rather not name.
Problem is I am not perfect and am learning all the time on IF, but really do try to do everything right. Spent too long pre-grade 3 on the Training Server getting inexperienced controllers telling me to check forums when they are in the wrong and the ‘check forums’ comment now really annoys me. Was surprised to get it on the Expert Server.
Ultimately - if it’s an IF thing that they just aren’t liked then I will have to do exactly as suggested and ‘suck it up’.

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All the ATC on the Expert Server are hand picked and trained, so while it could’ve been the mistake of the controller, it may have also been your bad doing. Maybe the controller told you to taxi to a different runway? Or maybe he said that there were no intersecting departures? While I’m not blaming you, it might have been your mistake.

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@Mr_Incognito PM the controller and just ask because then you’ll be able to find out if it was something that you did that you can learn from, or if it was the controller’s wrong doing, I am sure they will thank you for bringing it to their attention in any case and should be more than happy to address it with you. Failing that, let @Brandon_Sandstrom know who it was as I’m sure he will enjoy raining fire down!

I for one quite like intersection departures as a controller, it then gives me the option for the most expeditious order in which to depart aircraft!

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Was this at Aspen today?

Intersection departures are fine, but for a controller they are sometimes hard to keep track of. When there is heavy traffic you should ideally be waiting in line with the rest of the other aircraft waiting to depart. Also, make sure that your aircraft does not prevent other aircraft from taxiing the full length of the runway.

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As a ramp rat here in anchorage ak I see intersection takeoffs all the time from dash8-100 series and grand caravans 208 all of the time even during peak traffic hours throughout the day heavies at the very end and smaller aircraft intersection takeoff but think a lot of it does depend on if the tower will allow that or not

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