Say so long to downtown Nashville, at least if you’re departing from the airport. The Federal Aviation Administration says that from July 2, aircraft taking off from Nashville International’s Runway 31 will no longer be able to fly over the city’s famed skyline.
Current procedures at the airport have aircraft departing from Runway 31 (airport runways are designated by points of the compass, thus “31” is 310 degrees) turn to a heading of either 50 degrees or 280 degrees when they’re 2,000 feet past the end of the runway.
That 280-degree heading takes them over downtown. The problem is that the procedure violates one of FAA’s own standards, the one that says aircraft must be higher than any object within a three-mile radius when they are climbing.
The fix? Starting July 2, flights will take either a 240-degree heading, or a 330-degree path. No more downtown flyovers, but passengers should get a neat view of the Cumberland River.
Runway 13-31 is a crosswind runway, the longest strip at BNA. Passenger aircraft use Runway 31 to depart approximately 30 percent of the time during the day. Nighttime, some 10 to 15 flights do the same.
A lot of those aircraft bear the Canyon Blue livery of discount airline Southwest. Nashville is a major focus city for the carrier.
© Cheapflights Ltd Jerry Chandler
