On Wednesday 28 June, several calibration flights will take place from Maastricht Aachen Airport. With these flights we measure the Instrument Landing System (ILS) of the airport.
The Instrument Landing System makes it possible to land at Maastricht Aachen Airport in very dense fog (visibility from 150 metres). But pilots also use the ILS to land under normal weather conditions. This ensures, for example, that approaching aircraft maintain the same angle of descent about 12 kilometres from the airport.
The plane was expected to land at 09:00. Between 10:00 and 13:00, the aircraft performs several flights from different altitudes, alternately using runways 03 and runway 21. This means that the runway is approached from the north and south, after which the aircraft climbs out again, without landing.
The plane was supposed to depart around 14:00. The times mentioned are subject to change.
The calibration flights are necessary to check the correct operation of the ILS before Maastricht Aachen Airport reopens for regular air traffic this weekend.