Night curfews are a strict business at airports across Europe. Fines can be levied against airlines and airports if aircraft arrive too early or too late without special permission. Just last month, a Condor flight was 30 seconds late, just 2,100 feet from touchdown when the clock struck 00:30.
This month, an ANA flight had the opposite problem, it arrived in Frankfurt seconds too early and was forced to go around for a second landing attempt. This latest incident was brought to our attention by Discover Airlines pilot Ori Gross’ LinkedIn post.
Luckily for ANA, the extra time before landing in Frankfurt was not nearly as long as Condor’s delay. NH203 touched down 15 minutes after beginning its go around at 05:15 local time.
The first arrivals
ANA’s flight 203 is routinely among the first arrivals at Frankfurt every morning, sometimes landing at precisely 05:00 as the night curfew expires. It’s not clear what made this particular flight arrive just ahead of schedule, but 1.89 kilometers and about 30 seconds made the difference between a smooth first arrival and a go around.
And the go around, with the aircraft at full thrust, was surely counterproductive to the goal of the night curfew: noise abatement.
The post Seconds too soon: night curfew forces ANA flight to go around appeared first on Flightradar24 Blog.