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- ATC – for aircraft control and movement features
What is your suggestion?
Make a modification to the lineup for takeoff on Zurich’s runway 32 to improve traffic flows.
How would it work in the game?
I see three possible improvements:A - Direct lineup to the runway: For some reason, runway 32 departures take the taxiway running perpendicular (90°) to the runway, necessitating a slowdown to make the sharper turn, even having to start turning after the runway centerline. It does all of that while there is a much better positioned exit ramp with a much less sharp angle. The actual takeoff roll doesn’t even start until after that taxiway meets the runway anyways so runway length shouldn’t be a problem even for the largest aircraft. But even if only possible for some aircraft types, it would be a welcome change.
B - Intersection takeoffs for planes from satellite terminal: Now I swear I’ve seen that be the default configuration at ZRH at some point. Could be a mandela effect but I think that would be too weird. Basically, the planes taxiing for takeoff from the satellite terminal unnecessarily take a very circuitous route to reach the first runway junction while they could easily just take one further down the runway, actually closer to the satellite terminal. This would not only speed up the whole departure process for the planes using the satellite terminal, it would also make the queue from the main terminal smaller and less awkward without those satellite terminal planes having to join into it. Here I’d be cautious with larger planes since runway length might not be enough from the intersection but just like before, making this even for smaller (up to B752 let’s say) planes only would help a ton.
C - Intersection takeoffs for all (feasible) departures: This is basically just an extension of the previous one, which would involve all A-C class planes (+757s and other suitable aircraft types) taxi to a further intersection. This might not make takeoffs too much faster but it will keep the departure queue further away from the terminals.
Why is this a good idea?
Any of these would improve the flow of departures, especially in the runway 34-32 configuration (not noticed as much in others), reducing departure queues so they don’t block other taxiing aircraft. The takeoffs on this runway are already delayed due to the planes having to wait until a departing aircraft crosses the last intersection before even starting to line up for obvious reasons so any improvement would be good.
Optional: Image or reference
Blue shows current setup, red would be my proposal A, purple represents B and C.
This is what the current setup produces. And no, I did not forget to turn on the departure manager on, in fact this has built up over 2 hours with the departure manager on with the highest speed boost. This is to showcase why a traffic flow improvement is badly needed.
