Foggy Departure | Take Off Eindhoven Airport (EHEH) | Lauda | Airbus A320 | 22-05-2023

Foggy Departure! Really it is foggy. However the visibility is still good enough for planes to take-off and land. Eindhoven Airport equipped with ILS CAT 1 (see explanation at the bottom). Because of the dense fog, we were surprised the airport wasn't closed. This happens a lot but not this time!

Flight Information:
Flight: FR 688 (EIN-VIE)
Seat: 6A
Date: 22 May 2023

Departure airport: Eindhoven Airport (EIN/EHEH)
Departure time: 09:05 (local time)

Arrival airport: Vienna Schwechat Airport (VIE/LOWW)
Arrival time: 10:45 (local time)

Aircraft: Airbus A320
Registration: 9H-LMP
Airline: Lauda Motion (Ryanair)

© Dutch Wingview

Timeline:
00:00 Taxi to runway 21
03:20 Take Off runway 21
04:15 Climbing out of Eindhoven Airport

ILS Explanation:
The "Instrument Landing System" is a system which is used by pilots to land their plane in low visibility circumstances such as rain or dense fog. The system does work using radio waves. These waves are detected by the plane and tells the pilot if it has to go to the left, to the right, up or down in order to land at the desired runway.

However the system is used a lot and not only with bad visibility, the pilot may not land its plane only using ILS (except ILS CAT III - C). At at certain point during the final phase of the landing, the pilot must have eye contact with the runway. Otherwise a go-around is mandatory to be performed. To give an example: Eindhoven is equipped with an ILS CAT I system. It is the first category of the ILS systems. It is required to have eye contact with the runway at 550 meters from the threshold (800 meters if runway does not have center line lights) at a decision height of 200 feet. If the runway is not in sight at this point, the pilot must perform a go-around.