Continuing the discussion on the resourceful information found here:
The information found here is going to be from the pilot’s perspective. So lets get started!
Good Airmanship…
As with most flights that you conduct in global, planning is a key part into a successful flight. Whether this may be planning your route, weather, and traffic flows that you observe from the map. If ATC is active, its even more crucial to observe the traffic flow to ensure you’re not interfering with other individuals.
Below is just and example of how I create and would fly a departure at an airport with parallel runways. As you’ll notice, I have not engaged my NAV autopilot yet I am still progressing in the general direction of my first fix. By the time I will have gotten to the first waypoint, I will have climbed to a reasonable altitude at which I can turn on the autopilot if I decide to turn it on. Generally I’ll wait until 5,000ft - 10,000ft before engaging but it really depends on the aircraft, region, terrain, and other factors.
What it boils down to, is fly the runway heading for a few miles or more. This isn’t an airshow we’re performing at after all.
What you should not do…
In the image below, you can see that we have two aircraft that just departed. The aircraft circled in green took off from 06R at UUEE. There was a slight cross wind but not enough to blow an aircraft into the departure path for aircraft departing on the parallel runway 06L. The aircraft that is circled is flying in what is called the “NTZ” or No Transgression Zone. This may be a term that is unfamiliar to most but what that means is that there is a 2000ft wide corridor between the approach and departure end of a set of parallel runways in which flight activity may not exist. (See last image at the bottom of this post) A lateral (horizontal) 2000ft distance is tough to judge in Infinite Flight so if we remain on the extended runway centerline red line we shouldn’t conflict with the aircraft next to us on a parallel departure.
With this being said, you should not be turning your departure over / through the opposing parallel runway. This causes conflicts with other fellow pilots.
- Do not turn on NAV immediately after retracting your gear.
- Do not make any turns immediately after liftoff. Its not needed unless you’re making a turn for obstacles such as terrain.
- DO: Clean up the aircraft (gear retracted, flaps retracted/partially retracted) gain some altitude, establish contact with ATC, and then engage your autopilot.
- DO: Hand fly the aircraft.
What you should do…
The image below shows how departing from an airport with parallel runways should be conducted. The two aircraft are on diverging paths and will not cause an issue with each other or with traffic around them. If you see ATC utilizing both runways, and depending on which side of the airfield you’re on, you can anticipate the runway that you’ll be assigned to. With that being said, you can plan your flight plan with a slight turn away from the opposing parallel runway and towards your destination without interfering with other traffic. But keep in mind, this turn is to be no less than 15˚ and needs to be away from the parallel runway next to you.
If you’re on the northern runway or 06L in this situation, and your flight plan takes you to the south, you’ll need to extend your upwind departure until you have enough vertical separation to safely maneuver your aircraft over the traffic next to you. If ATC departure is active, listen to and comply with their instructions.
- Green Lines: Depict the runway centerline. The NTZ would be between these two lines
- Red Lines: Depict an approximate 15˚ turn in the opposing direction.
Basic Traffic Pattern with NTZ
As discussed earlier, the NTZ was mentioned. As you can see from this diagram the NTZ exists on both the approach end and the departure end of our airport. Also take note how the aircraft that departed are either flying the departure straight out or they made a turn away from the opposing parallel runway. They did not cross the other departure path.
Sourced Image
Questions?
Please don’t hesitate to ask! Hope you learned something new and are able to apply this to your daily/weekly Infinite Flight experience.
As with most tutorials that I create, this was created from the observations I had while flying on the live server. And more than anything, it helps out the wonderful IFATC controllers.