What makes a pilot refuse to land the plane he or she is flying?

Yesterday, bad weather forced dozens of flights to divert to airports in calmer parts of the country. 

Speaking to Moncrieff, Kevin Byrne, a former Lieutenant Colonel, said there are a “whole host” of factors that determine whether a flight can land. 

“One is flight safety, of course,” he said. 

“Then, there’s agreements between the aviation regulator, the airline and the airport. 

“Every runway, for example, has a thing called a decision point; you’ll come down to that height and see if it’s safe to commit to the landing or not. 

“In the case of a storm, if the wind is not what you might call down the middle of the runway - which is what you’d like it to be - it’s variable, it comes from left or right and there are limitations on the crosswind as you might have seen.”

While @DublinAirport has been open all day, #StormIsha has posed a significant challenge to both departing & arriving flights. As of 9.30pm, airlines have cancelled 148 flights - 75 incoming & 73 departing. 35 flights have diverted to other airports, with 27 go-arounds. (1/5) pic.twitter.com/wPO4ZZAETg

— Dublin Airport (@DublinAirport) January 21, 2024

Pilots will often attempt to land before they decide to divert to an alternative airport - something that costs their employer a huge amount of money. 

“You make maybe two approaches is what airlines normally allow the pilot to do,” Mr Byrne said. 

“Some will allow a third but only if the weather has improved enough… If it stays the same, you’re more or less obliged to divert to the alternate airport.” 

Knock-on problems

Usually, the flight will try to divert to the nearest alternative airport and Mr Byrne said staff will “rally around” the crew and passengers to help them out. 

“Normally, you have it organised where you have a base where people can expect you,” he said. 

“You’ll have a handling agent and people who would be there on duty, be it late at night or early in the morning.” 

Despite the amount of contingency planning in place, Mr Byrne said diversions remain “quite complex” and create a huge number of knock-on problems. 

“Which explains why so many flights might have been cancelled from Dublin and Cork this morning,” he said. 

“The aircraft and crews are simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, unfortunately.” 

Main image: A plane lands during Storm Aileen. Picture by: Alamy.com