How do pilots choose which runway to use?

Do you know what those letters are in the beginning of every runway? How do pilots choose which runway to use and why?
These are some of the questions I will be answering in this podcast.
As always, send in you questions below in the comments and make sure do download the Mentour Aviation app and join the conversations in the chat. I will be there and so will many other pilots, students and enthusiasts!

[flywithcaptainjoe]

Dear colleague, I highly appreciate the mention regarding my video on this topic! Thank you very much! It´s about time we meet ;)

[jessijacobs]

Literally sitting here studying for my upcoming Law exam but instead I'm watching this which is SOOOO interesting!! 🤩❤️🤩 Thank you Petter!!!!

[unflexian]

Mentour and Captain Joe uploads on the same minute! must be a sign

[elweewutroone]

Some airports have preferred runways due to noise constraints.
An example is London Heathrow with a 5-knot tailwind preference for the 27 runway direction.
Another example is the now-closed Hong Kong International (Kai Tak) with a 5-knot tailwind preference for runway 13 in wet weather and a 10-knot tailwind preference in dry weather due to buildings immediately ahead of runway 31.

[bernieweber]

Recently at very large airports where it is difficult for controllers to see the windsock due to distance the controllers came up with an ingenious idea. Although the idea was stolen it is considered quite reliable on standard day standards. The ideal is a patch of lawn is grown on the tower ledge right outside the Head Controllers sight glass. The Head Troller opens the side sight glass and grabs a handful of grass and proceeds to toss it into the air. Which way the grass is blowing in the wind announces the direction of the headwind.

[TheFicek]

Thank you for your explanation on why headwind is usually the preferred approach for landings/takeoffs. You make it easy to understand for the non-pilots out there.

[phillysub]

Excellent video! I have learned so much about aviation from both Mentour and Captain Joe!

[AviatorAS]

Thank you Mentour Pilot !!! Please make a detailed video on the actual use of flaps and slats and the meaning of the numbers used to set the flaps like for example: "Flaps to four." ; "Flaps to full." etc.

[CaptRajuseriousflightsimmer]

Hello Captain, you are my mentor & like Teacher, I fly in to Simulation but I'm a serious flight simmer
I'm following from past few years
And I'm happy say have learn a lot about Aviation, such as aircraft
behaviour, weather, etc...
All thanks to you, also I follow Captain joo as well he also so good.

[traceyturner]

Thank you so much for that explanation. I've always wondered how runways got their numbers. 😊

[renevanoyen]

Start and land pref. with a head wind. That's the same with flying model aircrafts and when it's a strong wind, it touches down with almost no ground speed at all. Cool to see, but hard to master.
Good video (again).

[miraclechijioke]

Yes. I've watched the Captain Joe video on Runway numbering

[tensevo]

Great channel. Please more on navigation and programming routes. Ta.

[mybackpocket]

Another brilliant, simple video explaining things for us mere mortals that don't know about this stuff. Brilliant. Look forward to the next upload!

[timgoodall]

I loved that video! It was so detailed and easy to understand. Thank you very much!

[CP]

Yeah... I remember pulling out my Jeppesen and spinning the crosswind components...

Now for fun, have a look at the polar regions where True heading is used fro runways because the mag headings change too much!

[sarathw]

Thanks. I like your videos so much and decided to become a private pilot so now I am doing some reasrch.

[Biggles]

When I was flying light twins from the Channel Islands to Bournemouth(Hurn Airport) England many years ago we were routinely ordered to land on Runway 35 and not Runway 26 even though the wind was from the West ! I questioned this several times and was told the Dart Heralds and Larger Aircraft had priority on Runway 26 ! I thought it was expediency for ATC and we were told to do as we were told ! Also it meant we didn't have to be positioned by ATC due Magnetic Track from Channel Islands.

[leighs]

Always wondered about the runway numbers so having them explained, finally knowing it’s about degrees is great and makes perfect sense.

Do you have any thoughts about airports with mostly parallel runways versus airports with many cross runways? In Chicago, for example, they’ve been going through a huge, expensive expansion and reconfiguration of runways, adding new, longer parallel runways, and eliminating all runways that cross other runways - for safety reasons. Getting rid of cross runways appears to be a big safety issue in the US and a lot of airports are doing it. But I have to wonder if eliminating these runways means there will be more crosswinds to deal with?

[clhagy]

Thanks for another great video! I was wondering, why do both the Captain and the First Officer push and appear to hold the throttle levers on take off?