Ships with an air-draft (height above the water) of 125’ or greater could be a penetration of the 20:1 Threshold Siting Surface, as referenced in the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Advisory Circular AC 150/5300-13, Airport Design.

 In 2004 a joint decision was made between the Airports Division, and the City of Philadelphia, Division of Aviation to develop procedures to “remove” the obstacle from the approach path by stopping arrivals to Runway 35 when a “Tall Ship” approached the airport. (A Tall Ship is defined as a ship with an air-draft greater than 125 feet.)

 Procedures were put in place requiring the PHL TRACON to cease arrival operations to Runway 35 upon a 10 minute notification from the Department of Aviation “River Watch” when a “Tall Ship” is approaching the airport. Arrivals to Runway 35 may resume only upon notification from “River Watch” that the “Tall Ship” has cleared the Runway 35 Arrival Path.

 When the time estimates are off even slightly, arrival aircraft that are lined up for Runway 35 has to be re-routed into existing traffic flows to other runways. The closer these aircraft are to the airport, the more difficult this becomes. At peak arrival periods there may be no available capacity on any other runway.

 To reduce the impact on aircraft operations due to last minute re-sequencing to other runways and en-route holding of aircraft, on August 1, 2011 PHL ATCT will institute the following changes to Runway 35 arrival procedures:

From Sunrise to Sunset:

 From 10 minutes before a “Tall Ship” enters the Runway 35 Arrival Path, until the “Tall Ship” clears the Runway 35 Arrival Path; the PHL TRACON will clear aircraft for a Visual Approach Runway 35. The Approach Controller will advise the aircrew of the presence of a “Tall Ship” in the channel, and instruct the aircrew to report the ship “in sight” to the Tower Controller, then transfer the aircraft to the Tower. Once the aircrew reports that the “Tall Ship” is “in sight”, the Tower Controller will issue landing clearance. The Tower Controller would assist the pilot in acquiring the ship traffic by advising of direction of travel, or position if the vessel is pushing off the piers. Aircraft are not expected to directly over-fly a “Tall Ship”.

(See Below)

These procedures would be utilized from sunrise to sunset, during Visual Metrological Conditions (VMC), utilizing Visual Approaches only. To conduct visual approaches, Air Traffic rules require cloud ceilings to be at least 500’ above the Minimum Vectoring Altitude (MVA). The MVA south of the airport is 1600’. This effectively restricts Air Traffic from conducting visual approaches to Runway 35 to periods with weather conditions greater than 2100’ ceilings, and assuming a standard rate of descent of 310’ per nautical mile, between 5-6 miles visibility. This procedure would give a pilot more than ample time to visually acquire both the airport and a “Tall Ship”.