Atatürk Airport Should Not Be Broken Down
It was announced that Atatürk Airport was chosen as the location of the 1,000-bed field hospital needed to be used in the treatment of covid patients in the Istanbul region, after the Covid-19 epidemic, which affected the world, showed its effect in Turkey at the beginning of March 2020. In the days following the announcement of the decision, the southern parts of Atatürk Airport's two parallel main runways in the 35/17 direction were broken and dismantled and construction activities started. It is a very wrong thing to break the two main runways of Atatürk Airport and build a pandemic hospital on it, while there are vacant and unused large parking lots in Atatürk Airport, vacant lands the size of the area where this hospital will be built, and more importantly, an empty terminal building that can be used immediately with minor arrangements. is the decision; Although it was stated by many organizations, especially the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, the Union of Turkish Engineers and Architects Chambers (TMMOB), the Istanbul Medical Chamber, and aviation experts, these recommendations were not listened to and a field hospital was built on the broken runways.
Atatürk Airport, which was established in 1912 with the name "Yeşilköy Airplane Square", is the birthplace and cradle of Turkish military and civil aviation. Our first planes flew from this airport and it is among the first 10 airports established in the world. The first 10 airports established in the world are:
- Maryland College Park, USA – 1909
- Shoreham Airport, England – 1910
- Moscow Khodynka Airport – Russia – 1910
- Hamburg Airport, Germany – 1911
- Madrid Cuatro Vientos Airport, Spain – 1911
- Istanbul Yesilkoy Airport, Turkey -1912
- Bucharest Baneasa Airport, Romania – 1912
- Paris-Le Bourget Airport, France – 1914
- Rome Ciampino Airport, Italy – 1916
- Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Netherlands – 1916
Turkish people can't be proud enough that Istanbul Yesilkoy Airport is one of the 10 oldest airports in the world. This means that we were not behind the most advanced western countries in the world, which took the first step into aviation in those years. However, a great and unforgivable evil has been done to Turkish aviation with the breaking and dismantling of the two active main runways of Atatürk Airport, which has a historical value, with a decision taken in April 2020. In May 2020, the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects (TMMOB) filed a criminal complaint with the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, citing that public property was damaged by breaking the runways.
The dismantled and destroyed runways 35/17 L (Left) and 35/17 R (Right) are both 9843 feet (3000 meters) long, 148 feet (45 meters) wide, with the capacity to serve the heaviest tonnage aircraft used in the aviation industry today. These are runways built with subbase filling and drainage materials, specially reinforced concrete materials and techniques. In addition to being built with high-strength materials and high-standard construction techniques, these runways are equipped with upper category runway lighting and PAPI system, ILS, Doppler VOR-DME, NDB navigation systems that allow aircraft to land and take off in low visibility conditions. With the rupture of the 35 R and 35 L runways, all of these navigation and lighting systems, which cost billions of lira, were disabled.
While we are closing the runways of an airport that has witnessed history like Atatürk Airport, which is the birthplace and cradle of Turkish military and civil aviation, the question of how the practices of other countries regarding airports in similar situations came to mind. When Berlin's first built Tempelhof Airport remained in the middle of the city as the city grew, the need for a new airport arose. When Schönefeld Airport, built in the south of the city, was put into operation, all flights were shifted to this airport. However, although Tempelholf Airport was closed to flights, its runways were not broken and dismantled and were kept in an active condition. Although no aircraft use the airport, the Germans keep the runways of Tempelhof airport as they are, with the awareness that every airport has a strategic value.
When Ellinikon Airport, which is used by Athens, Piraeus and the surrounding cities in Greece, could not meet the need, Eleftherios Venizelos Airport was built in the southeast of the city and all scheduled commercial flights started from here on March 21, 2001. After Venizelos Airport was opened for flights, Ellinikon airport was not closed, although no flights were made from here, its runways were not broken and dismantled and it has been kept in an active state for 20 years.
While Rhodes Island was under Italian occupation, Maritsa Airport, which was built in 1938, and after Rhodes International Airport was built, all commercial flights were shifted to this airport, but the runways of the old Matritsa airport were not broken down and have been preserved for 44 years.
After the two main runways of Atatürk Airport in the north/south direction were closed to flights in a way that no planes could land as of the beginning of April 2020 and there was only one runway 05/23 at the airport, a question comes to mind. Northwest or southeast in the region
If the only runway that can be used at Atatürk Airport is 05/23 on the days when the high winds blow, if the 90 degree side wind is outside the limit on the flights to be made from 05/23, will there be no problem in the landing of these planes? Moreover, runway 05/23 has a length of 8,465 feet, which is 1,378 feet shorter than runways 35/17, which were 9843 feet in length. Not those who sit at a desk and make decisions, but pilots who have landed and taken off from these runways throughout their entire professional life, know how important every 1 foot of length on a runway is!
One of the most important reasons for the continuation of the existence of Atatürk Airport is the need to use this airport for military purposes when necessary. With the funds allocated in time for a possible air campaign in the western region of Atatürk Airport, concrete aircraft shelters at NATO standards were built in the military section of the square for the safe protection of combat fighter-bomber jet aircraft. As the density of airline planes using Atatürk Airport gradually increased over time, when the parking areas were not enough for the planes to stay overnight in the square, these shelters in the military zone were demolished as a remedy and aircraft parking lots were built on this wide area. The demolition of aircraft shelters should never be thought of as eliminating the military needs of this airport. In the coming years, this airport can be used for military needs; Considering that the combat jet aircraft that will be deployed to this airport will play a deterrent role in times of tension, the field hospital must be disassembled and transported, and the broken runways must be repaired and kept open for flight activities.
There is also an indispensable rule about airports, which is very well known in the world. Airports are strategic values of a country and must be kept. Airports, once sold out, will never come back.
When the news that a 1,000-bed hospital will be built on the European side of Istanbul in March 2020 appeared in the media, the opinion that the Atatürk Airport terminal building is very suitable for this place was expressed by many people and institutions, especially the officials of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. The abandoned and empty terminal building has its infrastructure, subway, parking lot, electricity, water, elevators, passenger and luggage conveyor systems, kitchens, air conditioning system with biological hepa filtering, WC-showers, laundries, sewage system, without any delay in case of power cuts. It was ready to move here and serve as a hospital immediately, with everything including automated backup generator systems, satellite communication, camera, security systems and internet connections. It even had a hotel in the Terminal for accommodation, which is still a problem for healthcare workers in hospitals. While there are these facilities that can be used immediately without delay and without much expense, the construction of a hospital from scratch and the fact that the two existing main runways of this construction have been broken and dismantled have been met with great sadness and surprise. There is no reasonable justification for this practice. Therefore, it is the most practical and rational solution to stop this practice without delay and put the field hospital into operation at the terminal facilities, which are in a ready state. Turning back from a mistake is a virtue, a virtue. After this mistake is felt in the conscience and going back, the broken and dismantled runways should be repaired and brought back to their former state as soon as possible.
The only authority responsible for the operation of airports, the performance of air traffic control services and the management of all civil aviation activities in Turkey is the State Airports Authority (DHMI). DHMI General Manager Hüseyin Keskin, who checked the construction, which was started to build a field hospital at Atatürk Airport, on-site in April 2020, said that the 35/17 runways in the north/south direction of Atatürk Airport were dismantled because they are in the same direction as the Istanbul Airport runways, and the field hospital was taken to the construction site. disclosed to its members.
Since the issue of air traffic management is out of my field of expertise, I asked the experts working at the Istanbul Air Traffic Control Center and thousands of flights from this airport to learn why it would be a problem for the flight runways of these two airports to be in the same direction in the management of the flight traffic to be made from Istanbul Airport and Atatürk Airport. I consulted with my captain pilot friends. Air Traffic Controllers explained with certainty that if necessary arrangements are made in the flight traffic planning of Istanbul Airspace, and if ARR and DEP Routes are drawn for both airports, there will be no problem in regulating the air traffic of these two airports. Within the Istanbul Terminal Control Area, the approach of Atatürk, Sabiha Gökçen, the new Istanbul Airport, Çorlu, Bursa/Yenişehir and Hazerfen.
They explained that the flights to Atatürk Airport have already been made, that flights to Atatürk Airport are currently restricted, but that air traffic can be easily managed with simple arrangements if flights to this airport increase. Just as the flight traffic of 6 airports close to each other around London, 3 airports in Paris, 4 airports in Moscow, 5 airports in New York, 3 airports in San Francisco and hundreds of similar airports around the world, is managed, Istanbul Airspace They explained that there would be no problem in managing the flight traffic of the airports in Turkey.
DHMI officials point out that the distance between the two airports is short, as the other reason for the breaking of two runways of Atatürk Airport and its closure to commercial flights. However, experts say that this justification is not true; As an example, they show that the distance between Gatwick and London City, which is one of the airports in the London region, is 7 miles, between New York JFK and LaGuardia is 9 miles, and the distance between Atatürk Airport and Istanbul Airport is 19 miles, more than twice that.
Aviation experts state that all flights to Atatürk, Sabiha Gökçen and the new Istanbul Airport and Samandıra Airport in the Istanbul region will be made safely by rearranging the information written on the Jeppesen card used by all world aviators for Istanbul Airspace. The approach, landing, take-off and ascent information applied by the pilots at all airports and airports in the world, as well as flight directions, flight altitudes and terrain conditions are indicated on Jeppesen maps (charts). In these charts, CTRs (Controlled Traffic Regions) in the Istanbul region are marked. In aviation terms, “CTR” can be defined as an invisible control dome set over an airport, raised from the ground surface to a certain vertical safety altitude. Therefore, CTRs are a designated control safety area for aircraft that are approaching that airport/airport for safe landing or will safely leave that airspace after take-off. The safety distances between these airports are also separated from each other in full safety by giving different approach altitudes.
As a result, it has been expressed by the experts of the subject that there will be no problem in the management of the flight traffic as long as there are navigation devices, control radars, computers and technical devices needed in the management of the flight traffic in the Istanbul airspace and there are knowledgeable and skilled air traffic controllers to use them. Just as Turkish people were proud that Atatürk Airport is one of the 10 oldest airports in the world, they also experienced a great sadness when the runways of this airport were broken down and disposed of. A great evil and an unforgivable mistake was made against the Turkish military and civil aviation when Atatürk Airport was first closed to commercial flights and then its two main runways were broken down and dismantled for no reasonable reason. Based on the fact that it is a virtue to turn from a mistake, this big mistake will be reversed by dismantling and moving the prefabricated field hospital in the form of a barracks at Atatürk Airport and reopening it to commercial flights by repairing the two broken runways.
