BEHIND THE SCENES AT GATWICK AIRPORT - British Airways ...

long after, Istanbul will hand us over to Ercan who seemto serve merely as an intemediary between Turkey andCyprus. They offer no clearances, or at least if they tryto we are to recommended to refuse them by our RouteInformation Manual. Overhead TOMBI, Ercan hand usover to Nicosia and after changing our squawk code wecheck in with Nicosia stating our callsign, position, flightlevel and squawk code. Only a few minutes pass beforethe FMC lets us know that it's time to descend. Nicosiausually give a clearance to descend to FL110.There are a few quirks about operating into Paphos,but it is still a relatively straight forward destination tooperate into. When British Airways began to servePaphos with its own aircraft after the franchise with GBAirways finished, the flights departed Gatwick late inthe evening and arrived into Paphos shortly aftermidnight. The runway lighting is, to put it politely,appalling. There are only threshold lights and edgelights and the approach lighting is almost non-existant.There is a big feeling of descending towards a big blackhole. Fortunately, the flights have been retimed andnow arrive into Paphos mid-afternoon. The airport islocated very close to the coastline and experiences asteady sea breeze during the daytime that's just aboutstrong enough to preclude a landing with a tailwindonto runway 11. Only runway 29 has an ILS, the onlyinstrument approach to runway 11 is a VOR/DMEprocedure. If the weather is good enough, a visualcircuit to runway 29 is a good chance to practice yourhandling skills and it gives some great views of Paphoson the left-hand side just before turning downwind. Ifthe weather is not good enough for a visual circuit,Paphos airport does not have radar and therefore theILS approach to runway 29 must be flown procedurally.The procedural ILS approach requires being overheadthe airfield at 5,000ft for an 8nm outbound leg. Theplatform altitude of the approach is just 2,100ft. Themaximum speed during the procedure turn is 200 knotsfor a good reason. Terrain rises steeply from the coaston the extended centerline to just above 1,400ft. Lessthan 5nm to the north of the extended centreline theterrain rises up to 2,500ft. With a low platform altitude,forgetting to arm VOR/LOC or flying through theextended centreline could be disasterous. The ILS has aregular 3 degree glideslope to a runway with a landingdistance of 2699 metres.Slowing the aircraft down sufficiently after landing bytaxiway Hotel is difficult unless you're very light as fromthe beginning of the touchdown zone to taxiway Hotelis actually shorter than the runway in Jersey! ATC areusually very pro-active at Paphos though and will offer abacktrack to vacate via Hotel, or if preferred you canroll to the end of the runway and vacate at taxiwayAlpha and taxi along the parallel before crossing therunway to get to the Apron. Taxiway Hotel is perhapsthe bumpiest taxiway I have ever used, it is a good timeto remind the passengers that they should remainseated until the seat belt signs are switched off, it isuncomfortable sitting down, standing up withoutstumbling would be quite an achievement! Fortunatelythe apron was extended within the last decade and is ofa good quality with newly painted centreline and standmarkings. There are no on-pier stands at Paphos andparking positions can vary depending upon local levelsof traffic but typically BA aircraft are parked at theeastern end of the Apron relatively close to theTerminal building.If you've never visited Paphos on flightsim, I'dthoroughly recommend it and it's one that our mediumhaullovers will enjoy. You'll have to get in quickthough, BA has unfortunately decided that Paphos willbecome a summer-only destination and the last flightuntil next summer is on the 25th October. If you'venever visited Paphos for real, make it the destination foryour next vacation. The cuisine is fantastic, the peopleare warm and welcoming, the weather is great and thehistory is fascinating. There's something in Paphos foreveryone.Airways magazinee October/November 2010 49