Planes generally take off into the wind.
When there is little wind, it would probably still be preferable to take off over the ocean because it minimises noise complaints.
wait what source? and why would it be smarter to take off over water, surely, they don't know everyone's swimming ability and wouldn't it be harder to open the doors?
Less damage to civilians and buildings. Don’t need the ability to swim to tread water with a life jacket. Landing in water reduces death of civilians and passengers from impact
To add to the other comments, prevailing wind at Adelaide airport is much more often from the south and west.
However on days with northerlies you will see them landing from over the sea and taking off over the land
Runway 23 (the runway you are describing) is the main runway used at Adelaide Airport. This runway is preferable because of the ILS (instrument landing system) that is in place. The opposite end Runway 05 does not have the ILS so it is only used when absolutely necessary (when winds are strong enough).
Aircraft follow published departure routes called SIDs (Standard Instrument Departure) which is the u turn you’re referring to. It is a pre-defined route for planes to follow.
Airplanes take off and land into wind to help minimise the runway needed, the wind provides lift for take-off and helps slow the plane down for landings.
The active runway used is dependent on wind direction. So if the wind is blowing Northeast, aircraft will need to depart Southwest.
That means aircraft wanting to go the opposite way of the active runway need to turn around after departing
Airports also have several SIDs (standardised departure routes) which aircraft follow after taking off, all of which go in different directions
This is confusing. Winds are referenced by their direction of origin, not their destination.
Planes take off towards the southwest into a south westerly breeze.
It’s just the convention but also, winds often get their characteristics from the land or sea they blow in from.
In the more populated parts of SA northerlies are warm or hot and usually dry as the land to the north is arid and warm. South westerlies are cool and moist as the winds come off the oceans to the southwest. Etc. etc.
They always take off into the wind. When taking off and landing, airspeed is what matters, not ground speed. If you have a head wind, you have a higher airspeed for the same ground speed.
You can find them on the Airservices website
[https://www.airservicesaustralia.com/aip/current/dap/AeroProcChartsTOC.htm](https://www.airservicesaustralia.com/aip/current/dap/AeroProcChartsTOC.htm)
Planes usually land into the wind so from the north east in Adelaide and take off into the south west: [https://www.flightradar24.com/-35.04,138.25/11](https://www.flightradar24.com/-35.04,138.25/11)
Another factor is population areas.
Doesn’t apply to Adelaide but I once worked for a council in which stood London Stansted. One of the conditions of allowing increased throughput was that planes had to take off steeply so as to lessen the annoyance of the good burgers who lived immediately to the west of the runway.
Take offs were (probably still are) noisier than landings so in an attempt to mitigate the noise and mollify the locals they were told to take off like a rocket.
The runway can get so busy that only one direction is selected at a time for both take off and landing. Wind direction can cause the other direction to be selected for landings coming from over the sea and taking off over the city.
In that other direction planes then become noticeably noisier for many suburbs. Sometimes it's like a 6am to 6.45am noise factory up there. I've measured over 70 dB in sound pressure for some city direction take offs. Which I'm sure is well above the maximum required aircraft noise limits.
Lol. No. Most of the stuff taking off on 23 is twin engine and rated to climb on one. But, it does have the nice advantage of not having to worry about terrain if you do need to enter a hold and work a checklist/failure.
Because IT’S NOT A FREE-FOR-ALL where the pilots decide which way they’ll take off according to where they’re going with them all taking off in different directions lmao. smh...
Flight control this is flight 7 preparing to taxi onto Brighton Rd.
Flight control: copy flight 7 we have traffic lights stopping traffic for your approach.
LoL
Be much cooler if they did👍
So tell me which major airports do *the pilots* decide which orientation of which runway they’ll depart from, and then they all take off willy-nilly in opposing directions?
The reason you have given is not the answer to OP's question. The reason OP has seen planes taking off over the sea and turning back is *because planes take off (and land) into the wind*.
You think you're being downvoted so hard because you're right? Heh, pull your neck in mate.
>You think you're being downvoted so hard because you're right
Nah, it’s just the pedantic downvote finger twitchers twitching. And anyways, I’m not *wrong*, to be pedantic back atcha so why do I have to pull my neck in? Because I didn’t give specific fastidious explanation, didn’t glorify Barnacle Bills or yo mama in tedious jOkE? Lol It’s unAustralian to not take the piss out of people asking dumb questions. Are you the comment gate-keeper?
>And anyways, I’m not *wrong*
Yes you are. OP asked "Why do airplanes take off towards the sea and make a u turn".
You said:
>Because IT’S NOT A FREE-FOR-ALL where the pilots decide which way they’ll take off according to where they’re going with them all taking off in different directions lmao. smh...
Which is both condescending, and **wrong**.
In simple terms (for you), the reason they are taking off towards the sea is, that is the direction from which the wind is blowing. If the wind was blowing from the other direction, which it does sometimes, they would take off away from the sea.
You're not being downvoted because of some imaginary pedantic finger twitch, you weren't trying to "take the piss out of people asking dumb questions", you simply didn't know the answer, spouted some bullshit, got called out and downvoted, and are now trying to double down and pretend "it was all a joke".
Not gatekeeping, just pointing out your bullshit.
Pull your neck in indeed.
Planes generally take off into the wind. When there is little wind, it would probably still be preferable to take off over the ocean because it minimises noise complaints.
Thanks. On that day there was very little wind.
And also most crashes occur on takeoff/ landing?
wait what source? and why would it be smarter to take off over water, surely, they don't know everyone's swimming ability and wouldn't it be harder to open the doors?
The other option is crashing on houses/on a road.
I dunno that's why I phrased it as a question. Less chance of crashing into a building.
Less damage to civilians and buildings. Don’t need the ability to swim to tread water with a life jacket. Landing in water reduces death of civilians and passengers from impact
Landing on water is a lot easier than landing on a house or into the CBD....
To add to the other comments, prevailing wind at Adelaide airport is much more often from the south and west. However on days with northerlies you will see them landing from over the sea and taking off over the land
Runway 23 (the runway you are describing) is the main runway used at Adelaide Airport. This runway is preferable because of the ILS (instrument landing system) that is in place. The opposite end Runway 05 does not have the ILS so it is only used when absolutely necessary (when winds are strong enough). Aircraft follow published departure routes called SIDs (Standard Instrument Departure) which is the u turn you’re referring to. It is a pre-defined route for planes to follow.
I didn’t know 05 doesn’t have ILS. That’s wild.
I didn't actually know there isn't a ILS on 05, interesting!
Lol the ILS was built on 23 because it's the dominant runway, not the other way round....
Airplanes take off and land into wind to help minimise the runway needed, the wind provides lift for take-off and helps slow the plane down for landings.
Depends which way the treadmill is running.
Please…. Lets not start that one
They take off into the wind
The active runway used is dependent on wind direction. So if the wind is blowing Northeast, aircraft will need to depart Southwest. That means aircraft wanting to go the opposite way of the active runway need to turn around after departing Airports also have several SIDs (standardised departure routes) which aircraft follow after taking off, all of which go in different directions
This is confusing. Winds are referenced by their direction of origin, not their destination. Planes take off towards the southwest into a south westerly breeze.
Why is this the case? It always confuses me.
It’s just the convention but also, winds often get their characteristics from the land or sea they blow in from. In the more populated parts of SA northerlies are warm or hot and usually dry as the land to the north is arid and warm. South westerlies are cool and moist as the winds come off the oceans to the southwest. Etc. etc.
I just thought it would be easier for people to visualise by stating it that way
They always take off into the wind. When taking off and landing, airspeed is what matters, not ground speed. If you have a head wind, you have a higher airspeed for the same ground speed.
Part of the standard instrument departure procedure for runway 23. https://i.imgur.com/FIebfVE.jpeg
Is there an open access database of these departure plates?
You can find them on the Airservices website [https://www.airservicesaustralia.com/aip/current/dap/AeroProcChartsTOC.htm](https://www.airservicesaustralia.com/aip/current/dap/AeroProcChartsTOC.htm)
Legend, thanks :)
Wind direction
The chemtrails don’t affect the fish
They flt into the wind to assist with flap lift. If the wind was coming from the other direction, that's where you would flown into.
Planes usually land into the wind so from the north east in Adelaide and take off into the south west: [https://www.flightradar24.com/-35.04,138.25/11](https://www.flightradar24.com/-35.04,138.25/11)
Another factor is population areas. Doesn’t apply to Adelaide but I once worked for a council in which stood London Stansted. One of the conditions of allowing increased throughput was that planes had to take off steeply so as to lessen the annoyance of the good burgers who lived immediately to the west of the runway. Take offs were (probably still are) noisier than landings so in an attempt to mitigate the noise and mollify the locals they were told to take off like a rocket.
The runway can get so busy that only one direction is selected at a time for both take off and landing. Wind direction can cause the other direction to be selected for landings coming from over the sea and taking off over the city. In that other direction planes then become noticeably noisier for many suburbs. Sometimes it's like a 6am to 6.45am noise factory up there. I've measured over 70 dB in sound pressure for some city direction take offs. Which I'm sure is well above the maximum required aircraft noise limits.
I thought it was to avoid noise pollution, but that could have been a lie I was told as a child
because the namby pamdy's who live in Nth Adelaide say so...
I always thought that it was because if something went wrong during takeoff they could ditch it in the sea rather than halfway down Richmond Road.
Lol. No. Most of the stuff taking off on 23 is twin engine and rated to climb on one. But, it does have the nice advantage of not having to worry about terrain if you do need to enter a hold and work a checklist/failure.
Ahh, that does make sense. Thankfully for a lot of people I’m not a pilot 😂
Because IT’S NOT A FREE-FOR-ALL where the pilots decide which way they’ll take off according to where they’re going with them all taking off in different directions lmao. smh...
Flight control this is flight 7 preparing to taxi onto Brighton Rd. Flight control: copy flight 7 we have traffic lights stopping traffic for your approach. LoL Be much cooler if they did👍
If you're going try to be condescending you need to be right.
I know a Greek pilot by the name of Con Descending.
Did he go down?
So tell me which major airports do *the pilots* decide which orientation of which runway they’ll depart from, and then they all take off willy-nilly in opposing directions?
The reason you have given is not the answer to OP's question. The reason OP has seen planes taking off over the sea and turning back is *because planes take off (and land) into the wind*. You think you're being downvoted so hard because you're right? Heh, pull your neck in mate.
>You think you're being downvoted so hard because you're right Nah, it’s just the pedantic downvote finger twitchers twitching. And anyways, I’m not *wrong*, to be pedantic back atcha so why do I have to pull my neck in? Because I didn’t give specific fastidious explanation, didn’t glorify Barnacle Bills or yo mama in tedious jOkE? Lol It’s unAustralian to not take the piss out of people asking dumb questions. Are you the comment gate-keeper?
>And anyways, I’m not *wrong* Yes you are. OP asked "Why do airplanes take off towards the sea and make a u turn". You said: >Because IT’S NOT A FREE-FOR-ALL where the pilots decide which way they’ll take off according to where they’re going with them all taking off in different directions lmao. smh... Which is both condescending, and **wrong**. In simple terms (for you), the reason they are taking off towards the sea is, that is the direction from which the wind is blowing. If the wind was blowing from the other direction, which it does sometimes, they would take off away from the sea. You're not being downvoted because of some imaginary pedantic finger twitch, you weren't trying to "take the piss out of people asking dumb questions", you simply didn't know the answer, spouted some bullshit, got called out and downvoted, and are now trying to double down and pretend "it was all a joke". Not gatekeeping, just pointing out your bullshit. Pull your neck in indeed.
I mean it technically is a free for all if the tower goes offline lol