Stand Sizes, Classification and Upgrades

In i am from Africa, and due to the nature of my work, i have traveled to many Central/ Eastern and Southern African counties. Just yesterday i was in Angola where, when i went there, flewq in their TAAG 777-300ER and coming back TAAG 777-200ER. The Angolan (14th February) airport, surprisingly, was servicing many large aircraft, 340’s 777 from Air France and others. TAAG themselves have about 12 777 if i recall correctly.

Long and short - All their stands are remote. They do not make use of any push back truck. The planes park in a about 30 degree angel to the terminal building and when they leave, they move toward the terminal building and taxi past between the terminal building and the other parked planes. Madagascar airport is the same, and so are many others.

My request is that we have a similar stand to that of the small aircraft, a slight angle, for large and medium aircraft, but that,w hen the plane is done, the plane can just move forward, so it requires a taxiway in and out.

My TAAG 777-300 ER

Angola Luanda Airport

TAP Portugal A340 witt another TAAG 777-200 in the hanger - with the wingtip of the 777-200 I was in heading home!

All the ground vehicles around the 777 - It had a front and back stairs truck)

Think this could work really well for initial start airports. These stands may even be cheaper maybe?

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I want this!

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I do not recall when or which discussion this was on, but I explained thurorly how instead of having stand sizes. You would have a taxiway like click and drag. Each aircraft will have a minimum stand size, meaning you can have a stand big enough to have an 767.

For example. You could build a 10 width x 8 height stand to service a 737-600 but you will need to expand to 10x10 for the 737-800. So stands are not restricted by the 4 types or how many end up in the game.

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Two ideas to consider:

(I) dividing aircraft by actual category (A, B, C through F), instead of light, medium and heavy. This is a more realistic approach and could determine requisites for runway, taxiway width, stands, number of jetways, etc.

(II) allowing multi-category 2x1 stands. This is quite common now in airports. One large stand can acommodate either 1 F aircraft or 2 C, in which case each jet bridge attaches to a different aircraft. Floor markings show this alternative parking for 1 F or 2 C simultaneously.

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Did anyone manage to find which airplanes are in which categories for stand size?

Well, according to the link above, and some googling as i never actually clicked the link above and then found that its all there, this is what it says:

Runways:

Code number Aeroplane reference field length Typical aeroplane
1 < 800 m DE HAVILLAND CANADA DHC-6/PIPER PA-31
2 800 m but < 1200 m ATR ATR-42-300/320/BOMBARDIER Dash 8 Q300
3 1200 m but < 1800 m SAAB 340/BOMBARDIER Regional Jet CRJ-200
4 1800 m and above BOEING 737-700/AIRBUS A-320

Stand sizes:

Code letter Wingspan Outer main gear wheel span Typical aeroplane
A < 15 m < 4.5 m PIPER PA-31/CESSNA 404 Titan
B 15 m but < 24 m 4.5 m but < 6 m BOMBARDIER Regional Jet CRJ-200/DE HAVILLAND CANADA DHC-6
C 24 m but < 36 m 6 m but < 9 m BOEING 737-700/AIRBUS A-320/EMBRAER ERJ 190-100
D 36 m but < 52 m 9 m but < 14 m B767 Series/AIRBUS A-310
E 52 m but < 65 m 9 m but < 14 m B777 Series/B787 Series/A330 Family
F 65 m but < 80 m 14 m but < 16 m BOEING 747-8/AIRBUS A-380-800

Yeah I saw that too but there are MANY and MANY MORE airplane models in this world other than Airbus and Boeing.

For example “Comac ARJ21-900” ?

I think the purpose of the document is to highlight some of the common aircraft. A list could be very long, and should they forget one, then they are seen as negligent. This is where the 2nd column comes in indicating the wing span of the aircraft.

The ARJ 21 series planes are between 33m and 36m in length, and a consistent wingspan of 27m, placing it comfortably in the C category

With all the releases these days, and with the coming of the large aircraft, i do hope that this set up of having the large stand combine into 2 medium stands wont be forgotten:grinning:

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In the picture below you can see a regular yellow line that lead to the normal Sierra stands (S3, S4 & S5) for B737 & A320 aircraft. Around the yellow lines you can see a black & yellow dotted line which leads to different Tango positions (T2 & T3) for ATR-aircraft, which allows the aircraft parked there to drive out of the stand without a Pushback. It would be nice if the customisable stands have the possibility to set different parking options for different aircraft.


*Note that this airport extremely rarely deals with ATR’s so the stands really aren’t designed for it, but will offer the possibility anyway if required.

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