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Helicopter pilot questions whether approach minimums to runway 4 at oth take into account the possibility of large ships in the channel.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 919228 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201011 |
| Local Time Of Day | 0601-1200 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | OTH.Airport |
| State Reference | OR |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | No Aircraft |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Captain |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 20 Flight Crew Total 2500 Flight Crew Type 1800 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | No Specific Anomaly Occurred All Types |
Narrative:
During practice approaches at oth (north bend regional airport) I realized that the proximity of the coos bay ship channel is a safety hazard to the IAP structure at the airport. The channel is directly under 'short-final' to runway 4. It seems apparent that the possibility of a large ship being an obstruction to an aircraft executing a instrument approach is not taken into account in the terps and MDA/da of the runway 4 approaches. Coos bay is not a large shipping port; but the port does have transits of large log and wood-chip ships several times a month; at all times of day and night. These ships have superstructure and cranes that extend well over 100' from the waterline. There is the distinct possibility that if a ship was in the channel on the extended centerline of runway 4 while a aircraft was approaching da for the ILS 4 approach (and others) sufficient clearance would not exist and an aircraft could strike the ship. I have seen where terps have been adjusted and mdas/das adjusted at other airports when this same situation was investigated. Departures on runway 22; circling approahes; landings to 13 and departures to runway 31 should be similarly investigated. The 'port of coos bay' could be contacted for specific vessel characteristics.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: Helicopter pilot questions whether approach minimums to Runway 4 at OTH take into account the possibility of large ships in the channel.
Narrative: During practice approaches at OTH (North Bend Regional Airport) I realized that the proximity of the Coos Bay ship channel is a safety hazard to the IAP structure at the airport. The channel is directly under 'short-final' to Runway 4. It seems apparent that the possibility of a large ship being an obstruction to an aircraft executing a instrument approach is not taken into account in the TERPS and MDA/DA of the Runway 4 approaches. Coos Bay is not a large shipping port; but the port does have transits of large log and wood-chip ships several times a month; at all times of day and night. These ships have superstructure and cranes that extend well over 100' from the waterline. There is the distinct possibility that if a ship was in the channel on the extended centerline of RWY 4 while a aircraft was approaching DA for the ILS 4 approach (and others) sufficient clearance would not exist and an aircraft could strike the ship. I have seen where TERPS have been adjusted and MDAs/DAs adjusted at other airports when this same situation was investigated. Departures on RWY 22; circling approahes; landings to 13 and departures to RWY 31 should be similarly investigated. The 'Port of Coos Bay' could be contacted for specific vessel characteristics.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.