Following a visit to Sulimaniyah in Kurdistan to take my grandson to visit his ‘other’ Kurdish grandparents, we flew back to Munich on a leased Hamburg Airlines International Boeing 737-700 with Zozik Air.
We made an unscheduled stop at Larnaca to pick up fuel, but as we approached on finals, the pilot suddenly opened up the throttles and we made a steep climb out (presumably to clear the mountains that I could see in the distance?).
I could see out of the cabin window that Larnaca was sunlit, but that there was a thick bank of mist on the coast – I could even see the top of a tower crane just sticking out of the mist – so we were quite low !! 😮
Anyway – we carried on to Paphos, landed and took on fuel – then carried on to Munich.
Speaking to the cabin crew at Paphos about the reason for the fuel upload, I was told that the crew were expecting to pick up 110 passengers at Sulimaniyah, but in fact 150 people were boarded!!
Hence the fuel shortage and the need to land in Cyprus!
It was all very exciting – but I was just wondering how close we were to landing at Larnaca before the missed approach procedure.
What would be the decision height at Larnaca in a 737-700 ??
Just curious.
The visit to Sulimaniyah was great BTW….. 🙂 except for the BA Flight on the way out – Heathrow to Munich.
They lost my baggage – with all my clothes plus the family presents we were taking out with us. It arrived back at my house in the UK the day AFTER I got back.
Ken
By: Deano - 26th April 2007 at 22:47
I just checked the approach charts, for runway 22 it is an ILS/DME CAT I approach so the 200ft DH stands, runway 04 is a VOR/DME approach only, so a non precision approach, the MDA (Minimum Descent Altitude) here for a Category C aircraft is 370ft
Which direction did you conduct the approach from? that would answer your question
Hope this helps
Dean
By: Deano - 26th April 2007 at 22:37
Depends on whether it was a CAT I, CAT II or CAT III approach, if a CAT I approach then DH would be 200ft AGL, as you didn’t descend through the mist I would suggest the CAT I approach was the case
Dean
By: nordjet415 - 26th April 2007 at 21:34
re missed approach at Larnaca
Hi there.
Sounds fun your trip. I dont know decision height for the 737 at Larnaca, however the mountain range you refer to in the distance is probably the Troodos range which is North of the airfield, they are at least 40 miles away but look closer when you are in the air, you would have seen them to your right if flying along the coast from Larnaca to Paphos.
I lived there for a number of years and had an apartment on Mckenzie beach so I saw many missed approaches,at this time of year it is quite normal for fog to form out at sea.
During my 6 years in Cyprus, I witnessed many missed approaches and these were mainly Russian charter flights wher pilots appeared to have little experience with approaches from the SOBOS VOR.I always find Larnaca a fun airport to spot at simply because aircraft arriving on the Daros vor arrival fly over head the airport and then out to sea, some take a short cut and turn finals early and almost always make a visual approach, you see some pilots doing dog legs to lose height. it is rare that pilots make an ILS approach at Larnaca.
Hope this answers a little of your request
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April 26, 2007 at 9:04 pm