Madeira Cristiano Ronaldo Airport

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Aeroporto Internacional da Madeira - Cristiano Ronaldo
Madeira Airport (2004) .jpg
Characteristics
ICAO code LPMA
IATA code FNC
Coordinates

32 ° 41 '52 "  N , 16 ° 46' 28"  W Coordinates: 32 ° 41 '52 "  N , 16 ° 46' 28"  W.

Height above MSL 59 m (194  ft )
Transport links
Distance from the city center 2 km northeast of Santa Cruz,
16 km northeast of Funchal
Street Expressway
Local transport bus
Basic data
opening July 8, 1964
operator ANAM - Aeroportos e Navegação Aérea da Madeira, SA
Terminals 1
Passengers 2,446,924 (2008)
Air freight 6637 tons (2008)
Flight
movements
22,799 (2008)
Capacity
( PAX per year)
3.5 million
Start-and runway
05/23 2777 m × 45 m asphalt



i7 i10 i11 i13

The Madeira Airport - Cristiano Ronaldo ( Portuguese Aeroporto Internacional da Madeira Cristiano Ronaldo ), also Funchal Airport called, is an international commercial airport of to Portugal belonging Atlantic island of Madeira . It is located in the east of the island directly on the city of Santa Cruz .

history

New runway from below
Concrete construction of the eastern half of the runway
on the right: eastern approach lane with the Ponta de São Lourenço
Approach to Madeira. View of the runway on concrete pillars

The airport opened in 1964 under the name Aeroporto de Santa Catarina and initially had a runway only 1,600 meters (5250 feet ) long. The orientation of the web was 60 or 240 degrees = 06/24. Due to the local conditions, the slope had a slight gradient. The northeastern runway threshold (24) was 58 meters above sea level, while the southwestern end of the runway (06) was only 42 meters. An expansion of the airport had been planned since the early 1970s, but did not begin until 1982. The runway, which has been extended by 200 meters (650 feet), began operating in 1985, a year before the rest of the construction work was complete.

In the past, the approach to the airport was difficult and feared, as it is located directly on the slope of the cliff, where wind shear can occur and the runway was still relatively short at 1800 meters.

On September 15, 2000, the new runway, which was extended to 2,777 meters, was opened, on which all types of aircraft can now land. It received a changed orientation of 50 or 230 degrees = 05/23. The railway extension was realized across a bay with an elaborate support structure 1020 meters long and 180 meters wide for 520 million euros. The 3-meter-thick concrete pillars installed are up to 120 meters long, up to 59 meters above ground, the rest is anchored underground or in the seabed. The structure and the engineers responsible received the “ Outstanding Structure Award ” from IABSE in 2004 .

Renaming of the airport

The renaming of the airport to Aeroporto de Cristiano Ronaldo , announced on July 23, 2016, was completed on March 29, 2017.

particularities

Video of the landing of an Airbus A321 from TAP Portugal under strong wind shear conditions (February 2014)

Due to the immediate location on a steep coast slope and the resulting possible wind shear caused by downwinds, the airport is one of the airports that are difficult to approach, especially since there is no instrument landing system and a tight right turn has to be flown in the final phase when approaching from the southwest due to the terrain. Therefore, landings may only be carried out by flight captains after instruction and with the required experience; In addition, a certain number of take-offs and landings in the last six months must be proven in order to maintain this authorization.

Incidents

Since 1973 there have been four total losses of aircraft (as of March 2017), of which a parked North Noratlas of the Portuguese air forces was destroyed by a bomb attack in 1974 . A total of 170 people were killed in the other three events.

  • On November 19, 1977, a Boeing 727-200 of the Transportes Aéreos Portugueses (CS-TBR) had an accident while landing on the then still short runway. In heavy rain and poor visibility, the machine had already had to abort two attempts to land. On the third approach from the northeast, it touched down too quickly and about 600 meters (2000  feet ) behind the threshold . Because of aquaplaning on the heavily flooded runway, the machine could no longer be brought to a standstill for the remaining 900 meters and fell 40 meters over the end of the runway onto the cliffs. Only 33 of the 164 people on board survived the accident. The accident did not occur during the more difficult approach from the southwest, but rather on the supposedly easier opposite course with an approach from the northeast over the island of Porto Santo (see also TAP flight 425 ) .
  • Only one month later, on December 18, 1977, a Caravelle 10R of the Swiss SATA (HB-ICK) was flown into the sea four kilometers southeast of the airport during the approach. In this CFIT ( Controlled flight into terrain ), 36 of the 57 people on board were killed. Human error has been identified as the cause. Both pilots were not authorized to land at night at this difficult airport. This accident drove the airline SATA into bankruptcy. In October 2011, the wreck of the machine was found, unexpectedly less deep than had previously been assumed (see also SA-de-Transport-Aérien-Flight 730 ) .

Directions

Street

The airport is located directly on one of the new expressways that have been built on Madeira Island in recent years. The travel time to the capital Funchal is around 15 minutes.

bus

There is a regular bus service to Funchal, Machico and Caniço .

See also

literature

  • Astrid Röben: Madeira International Airport. In: AERO International , No. 7/2017, pp. 32–37

Web links

Commons : Madeira Airport Cristiano Ronaldo  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. a b c Annual statistics of ANA - Aeroportos de Portugal, SA (parent company of the Madeiras airport operating company, ANAM) ( Memento of the original from June 12, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ana.pt
  2. ^ Aero, issue 105, year 1985
  3. Aeroporto da Madeira vai chamar-se “Cristiano Ronaldo”. In: Público . July 23, 2016. Retrieved July 23, 2016 (Portuguese).
  4. Ronaldo now has its own airport. March 25, 2017, accessed on March 29, 2017 (German).
  5. Approach chart
  6. ^ Accident statistics at Funchal Airport , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on March 22, 2017.
  7. ^ Accident report Caravelle 10R EC-BID , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on August 2, 2020.
  8. Aircraft accident data and report B-727-200 CS-TBR in the Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on March 22, 2017.
  9. ^ Accident report Caravelle HB-ICK , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on August 2, 2020.
  10. Swiss plane found off Madeira after 34 years. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . October 25, 2011, accessed December 21, 2014 .