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The painted airport at Mexico City
Reader Comments: (the comments posted below do not reflect the view of The Aviation Herald but represent the view of the various posters) Nobody outside of CDMX knows exactly what is happening with the NIAMC By Saul Arroyo Guerrero on Thursday, Jul 13th 2017 14:41Z It is easy to judge Mexico because is corrupt bla bla bla... but even those stupid comments that says that, New Mexico City Intl. Airport is one of the biggest, eco-friendly, modern and is going to be build with the famous award architech aroud the globe, so... please!!! not everything in my country is bad... Oh! U.S. has the most highest school gun crimes in America and nobody says anything!!! so shut up!!! :)
a request By Levent, Izmir on Wednesday, Jul 12th 2017 07:13Z May I kindly request that whoever is responsible for the phony "airport" at Mexico city, please take out all markings immediately before someone gets hurt!!
If you need markings on the ground for the actual construction please use steel or wooden poles marked painted in different colours to define different purposes, e.g. say white for the aprons, green for the taxiways, blue for the runways etc. I do not know why such phony marking were created in the first place, but it is high time they go right now, please!! Really? By Levent,izmir on Tuesday, Jul 11th 2017 15:45Z Really, please have a look at the incidient Simon has just published a few lines above this one re Air Canada A320 at SFO.
by the this happenned at a fully operational airport, which has long established rules charts etc. Life is never that simple! Smoggy smog smug By (anonymous) on Tuesday, Jul 11th 2017 12:07Z Went to Mexico City once, I coughed. When I removed the handkerchief from my mouth, a lump of coal fell out :)
to Levent Izmir By Denis on Tuesday, Jul 11th 2017 11:17Z to Levent Izmir
"If a pilot takes the painted airport and runways as the real ones, and tries to land there, who will be responsible here?" - The painted government. @levent By chandelle on Tuesday, Jul 11th 2017 10:10Z With your approach plates showing runways that are aligned more than 90 degrees away from the painted airport, how would anyone land there, eh?
@levent By turk757 on Tuesday, Jul 11th 2017 09:54Z really? that shouldnt even be discussed.
responsibility By Levent, Izmir on Tuesday, Jul 11th 2017 08:33Z If a pilot takes the painted airport and runways as the real ones, and tries to land there, who will be responsible here?
Reason? By Wojtek on Tuesday, Jul 11th 2017 07:46Z Can somebody state any reason why they would do that?
I am struggling to figure it out myself. I don't think it is fair to criticise Simon By Mr Pearce on Monday, May 22nd 2017 05:59Z If Pilot associations are providing a warning to pilots as reported, then why should Simon not enter a Notification article to reflect that? He's not reporting the painted airport itself, but the fact that it is subject to advisories.
I believe that several people commenting are doing so from a very emotive standpoint. It's just a notification. Smog By JayJay on Friday, May 19th 2017 07:25Z Hey smug guy, I meant Smog guy. Pollution is heavy in Mexico City yes, but Beijing ranks at the 14 as the world worst polluted city. CDMX ranks at 31. These are facts, not alternative facts.
Germany tops this ... By Uwe on Friday, May 19th 2017 07:08Z ... as we not only paint the RWYs, we even build them and the terminals etc.
So maybe the Mexicans are doing the right thing. painted runways By PAbs on Friday, May 19th 2017 00:49Z I first flew as a passanger into MEX on april 7th and it was already painted, I saw it again on april 12th, 16th, 17th and again on may 12th.
I founded cool to see that they marked where the first 2 runways are going to be and also the main terminal and I hope they can finish the construction on time. As a passenger I find it odd that such a sketch can/could confuse any pilot or even anyone with 1oz of brain. It clearly looks like a sketch, not a real runway for the moment. Not even the colour of it looks like a real asphalt runway. Even more weird for me that a pilot can confuse this sketch with the real runways due to its heading which are absolutely different from the heading the new runways will have. The sketch has no lights. Smog By (anonymous) on Friday, May 19th 2017 00:12Z Surprised that anyone in Mexico City lives to the age of 30. This has to be worse quality air than even Beijing.
The X is not paint By JayJay on Thursday, May 18th 2017 21:32Z google this on and watch the first video on search results so you can see current update on construction of new airport:
SUPERESTRUCTURAS - Construcción del Nuevo Aeropuerto Internacional de la Ciudad de México Building new airport. By JayJay on Thursday, May 18th 2017 21:02Z That's the X, which is the design of the new airport. They're doing site work.
Fonts are hard to read again... By Will B on Thursday, May 18th 2017 20:44Z Off topic, sorry.
Earlier today and the preceding days this site had readable fonts, now they are tiny and serif again. Anyone else notice a difference?? By Dave Cornutt on Thursday, May 18th 2017 18:34Z For some reason, this reminds me of when Boeing built the 1/4-scale fake city on the roof of their Renton plant during WWII.
@ CRM and Ulafme By Simon Hradecky on Thursday, May 18th 2017 18:21Z The "lack of money" came directly out of several pilot associations' informations to their members. I have now removed that one sentence.
In the meantime I have received evidence also, that such a "paint job" has been applied on Oct 19th 2016. From satellite images I conclude that the paint job was gone in March 2017 and resurfaced on Apr 19th 2017. The airport IS under construction By CRM on Thursday, May 18th 2017 17:13Z Simon, you're normally a credible and valuable source, but you (and whoever pitched you this article) are completely wrong about this. Regardless of how "poor" and "corrupt" Mexico is (at least per some of the commenters' views here), the new airport IS under construction (as of May 2017) and it's already been through many hidraulic and foundation breakthroughs and on schedule to open in 2020.
The terminal and runways have been painted on/marked on the dry lake as the result of one of the most common engineering practices in the world, called "construction surveying" or "stakeout", and also to speed up aerial visual certification and runway orientation procedures. Many of these activities are even being supervised by Sir Norman Foster himself! The only thing we agree on is that per ICAO rules a giant "X" should be painted on the fake runway, just to be safe. Maybe you should do some research before posting such an unfortunate article. Mexico is not as much of a banana republic as many of you think… China Airlines By Bill Tugby on Thursday, May 18th 2017 16:35Z I have experienced very poor piloting on flights with China Airlines. Extreme control inputs... both in ground steering and during flight, were very unnerving. Some of their "pilots" don't even know how to do coordinated turns! I've never been so happy to get off an airplane as I was to deplane China Air, and I'm a pilot myself.
Missing marks on new airport By Bob on Thursday, May 18th 2017 15:56Z Yes the airport new marking can cause a confusion
Looks like the airport is missing the "X" marking on the fake runways Bob @Ulafme By TFFG on Thursday, May 18th 2017 15:03Z I think this article is not such a stupid one. Aviation History has already show us how many landings were realized on a runway different from the one where it was supposed to happen.
- A C-17A landed at Peter O'Knight instead of MacDill AFB some years ago. - Delta 2845 landed on an AFB instead of Rapid City and in clear conditions. - Southwest 4013 landed at the wrong destination too and blablabla... To me it just a question of time before someone makes the same mistake here... but with the difference that here there will be no hard and well prepared runway for their landing and without any facilities and services for the "reception". Re: Ulafme By John on Thursday, May 18th 2017 14:33Z Ulafme:
While it may seem insignificant to you, this could cause real issues given that there is no obvious markings that show this runway is not usable (large, painted yellow Xs' or lit X's). Someone who is unfamiliar with the area in low visibility conditions may choose this "airport" in an emergency thinking it is a legitimate, paved airfield (since those are the markings they used) and have less-than-ideal results. As an employee in Flight Safety for a U.S. airline that flies into MEX, this information has been passed on to our pilots with a serious tone. Ulafme - "Dear Simon" By Mike R on Thursday, May 18th 2017 13:28Z Ulafme, you sound like a fun guy.
Aviation Safety By Stephen Bradford on Thursday, May 18th 2017 13:16Z On Sunday, May 21, 2017 I will operate a flight from MIA to MEX and return. This is the kind of thing that pilots fear. It is a stupid stunt by someone with a developers mindset who did not talk this over with aviation authorities.
MEX is known for poor visibility, bad terrain in the surrounding area, and it is by definition in our operating manuals, a special procedures airport. This requires the crew to review special procedure items briefings before operating too or from that airport. Adding a potentially confusing situation with false runway markings right near the current airport is just plain dumb and would not be allowed in the US or other areas. This is a potential hazard for those not aware of its existence. Dear Simon, By Ulafme on Thursday, May 18th 2017 12:38Z this is the worst, most embarrassing and most stupid article you ever published.
OK, it is just your another "joke" maybe, but today is not April 1st. Please remember, that there are millions and millions people on this planet they KNOW their planet is flat like plate and other millions they KNOW nobody was ever on the Moon. It is really lack of serious and reputable sources, as your site is. But this article is pure hoax... So for to others: Mexico City new international airport is under real construction and there was a reason "to paint a runway" on the construction site. (As I can not put a link here, you must to find it by yourselves:) @AlexG: My wife is ROFL... By TL on Thursday, May 18th 2017 12:34Z I hope she'll survive...
Great! By Toni Counter on Thursday, May 18th 2017 11:54Z There is still a chance that Mexico can finish this airport
before the Germans opens Berlin Brandenburg Airport? @alexG By (anonymous) on Thursday, May 18th 2017 11:40Z Great comment, as I operate out of SXF for an orange airline I am looking forward to utilising the new southern runway when our northern runway closes for maintenance over the summer... except the long taxi time!
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