When airplanes are in line to land, what is the distance between them?

Question

When airplanes are in line to land, what is the distance between them?

Answer 1

well I m doing training of Airbus A-330 from ETIHAD ariways and when i allign my aircraft for the runway in good/normal weather it is about 8 miles before,and we also open landing gear of my aircraft at that position.

it also depends on airports localizer.if slop is higher than the distance is also increased.

Answer 2

3 minutes separation is about right for heavy aircraft.  That works out to about 7 or 8nm.  It can be a lot less for little planes.

Answer 3

Presuming that you are talking about commercial jets, the minimum distance ATC tries to maintain between aircraft is 5 nautical miles behind "heavies"  (gross weight 255,000 lbs or more), and 3 nm behind others. The heavy jet category includes the Boeing 757 and everything larger. At typical final approach speeds of 135 to 150 knots this is slightly more than 1 to 2 minutes apart.

Answer 4

That depends on the radar and runways available. With a director sector and parallel runways you can get it down to 3 Nautical Miles otherwise it would be a 5 mile seperation. This would be on commercial aircraft. On training aircraft it can be as low as 1 mile on the same runway.

Answer 5

depends on the airport, weather and aircraft type. (talking about commercial aircraft)

In good weather, separation is usually 3 nautical miles. bad weather obviously calls for more.

airport runways enter the equation because some airports only have taxiways at the start and end of the runway(or a similar restriction), and more time must be given to aircraft on the rollout.

in addition, aircraft type must be considered. Bigger planes disturb more air as they pass, The "winds" generated by large aircraft are quite strong, and are NOT good for smaller planes following behind. It can take up to minutes for the turbulence to subside. FAA says at least 5 nautical miles separation for type medium aircraft behind type "heavy' aircraft.

Answer 6

there is no single answer to the question

if there is bad weather they will be further apart then  in clear weather

and there is also the factor of the planes if a small plane like a 737 is behind a large jet like a 747 they are further apart because the vortex turbulence caused by a 747 could flip a 737



but a Cessna following another Cessna could follow relatively close

and if there are  planes waiting to takeoff they need to  make room  for them

but in the end i would say 2-5 mile separation