Pilot Briefing for Flight Operations at St Athan Airfield Provided for eCube Solutions

General ICAO code EGDX IATA code DGX St Athan is an ex-military RAF airfield located on the South Wales coast, twelve miles to the west of the city of Cardiff. It is now owned by the Welsh Government and operated by a civilian contractor on their behalf although the airfield is still regulated by the Military Aviation Authority (MAA). A process is under way to complete the transition to regulation by the Civil Aviation Authority by 2019. Information taken from the manufacturers’ Airport Planning Manuals indicates the airfield is suitable for aircraft up to and including the Boeing 747 in size for landing on an empty ferry flight with normal fuel reserves. This information must be checked against individual aircraft Flight Manual data and operators own Operations Manuals.

Authorised Airfield Information The MAA publishes the approved data for St Athan in the UK Military AIP and the Defence Aerodrome Manual (DAM). Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the information in this briefing is correct, individual operators must check the up to date information at source and against their own Operations Manual. Link to the DAM pages for St Athan www.raf.mod.uk/modstathan/rafcms/mediafiles/A4D71437_5056_A318_A8279E005BA23AD3.pdf

Link to the UK Military AIP www.aidu.mod.uk/Milflip/products/Current_AIRAC/UkMilaip/launch_aip.htm

(Click on Volume 2 AD2 to find St Athan) Air Traffic Control ATC is provided by the contractor, Serco. The majority of movements are now civil, including Public Transport category helicopter operations, though there is a small military presence remaining. Close co-ordination is maintained between St Athan tower and approach control at Cardiff International Airport which is only three miles to the East of St Athan. Radar positioning to a visual final will be provided by Cardiff Approach with a handoff to St Athan tower when visual with the runway. The lowest MSA in the area is 2500ft to the Southeast of St Athan and the highest 4000ft to the North. Both VHF and UHF comms frequencies are available. There is an ILS system installed on runway 26 but this is, for the moment, uncategorised due obstacle issues. RFFS Category The stipulated RFFS category is 4 with 5/6 available on request. Increased fire cover above category 6 is available by prior arrangement Runways The single runway, 08/26 is 1828x45M. It is a grooved runway and thus satisfies the dry runway definition of EASA Annex 1 for aircraft performance when moisture is present: ‘Dry runway’ means a runway which is neither wet nor contaminated, and

includes those paved runways which have been specially prepared with grooves or

porous pavement and maintained to retain ‘effectively dry’ braking action even

when moisture is present. Declared distances as follows

Runway TORA (M) TODA (M) ASDA (M) LDA (M) 08 1828 1845 1845 1777 26 1828 1840 1840 1815

Runway lighting includes approach lights at each end, elevated edge lights and 3o PAPIs. The PAPIs are set for a 35 foot Minimum Eye Height at Threshold (MEHAT) so pilots of large aircraft must exercise caution or ask for them to be switched off. There are red end lights and green threshold lights. Runway PCN is sufficient for all aircraft types up to and including the Boeing747 in size to land at typical empty ferry weights with normal fuel reserves. Taxiways The only exit from the runway for aircraft in the B757/737/A320 category is to the North via holding point E at the runway midpoint. During the hours of darkness, all aircraft vacating at E will be instructed to shut down once clear of the runway. For aircraft larger than 757 the following procedure has been agreed with the Airport Operator for use on arrival. Arrival Procedure (aircraft larger than B757) After landing come to a halt on the runway, start APU if available and shut down all engines. A towing crew and tug will approach the front of the aircraft from a position near the end of the runway once the beacon has been switched off. An engineer will contact the flight crew via the interphone and headset to confirm towing instructions. The aircraft will be pushed back down the runway beyond taxiway E then towed to the eCube facility. If the interphone is not available for any reason then hand signals will be used. Customs and Immigration Where necessary all arrangements will be made by eCube solutions for clearance at St Athan

Captain Doug Brown FRAeS British Airways (retired), Chief Pilot 2001-2014

Boeing 747-400SF arriving at eCube Solutions facility at St Athan, December 2014