Fog

Heavy fog has little effect on operations at Melbourne Airport as runway 16/34 has a Category III B rating.

This means Melbourne Airport has the precision approach and landing infrastructure in place that is required to guide aircraft during low visibility conditions on runway 16/34.

Aircraft can take-off and land in Melbourne with a runway visual range of up to 50 metres and cloud base of up to 15 metres.

Melbourne Airport is currently one of the only airports in Australia with a Category III B rating.
 

Melbourne’s Category III B system is supported by the following infrastructure to assist pilots and air traffic control;

• Instrument Landing System (ILS).
• Enhanced Runway Lighting including touch down zone lighting, centreline lighting, stop bars and also a High Intensity Approach Lighting system.
• Runway Visual Range Indicators.
• Back Up power equipment and

Veehlo tracking devices on vehicles and aircraft transponders to assist air traffic control in monitoring movements in poor visibility conditions.

Aircraft and pilots must be authorised to use a Category III B system. If they do not have the rating, they cannot land and this can cause airlines to delay or cancel services.

Each airline must apply to CASA for approval to conduct Category III B operations. Aircraft must be equipped for Category IIIB operations and pilots need to be qualified to conduct a Category III B approach.
Most international aircraft and pilots have been granted with a Category III B rating, which is why international services experience less disruption.
 

Airservices Australia control 11 per cent of the world’s airspace including all operations in Australia and they issue warnings which informs how airports operate under safety guidelines.