Fog at the Eugene Airport

The other day two flights were cancelled at the Eugene Airport and a third flight diverted to another airport due to fog. It’s certainly not something we like to see. You might think this happens quite often, given how foggy the Willamette Valley can be in the winter. Fortunately, it doesn’t impact the Eugene Airport too much thanks to some pretty snazzy equipment in use at EUG.

It’s called a Category III Instrument Landing System. Not many Airports the size of EUG have equipment that allows for very low visibility landings; in this case, what’s called a Runway Visual Range, between 1200 to 600 feet. Less than 600 feet visibility is when the fog is like pea soup and nothing is landing. (This happens very rarely.)

Three things have to work in tandem to make the system work; the Cat III ILS equipment on the ground, Head Up Display equipment on the aircraft, and a pilot trained to use it. Most of the aircraft and pilots landing and taking off at the Eugene Airport are able to use the system. There are a few aircraft and/or pilots not equipped to use it and that’s generally when fog results in a cancellation or diversion.

When the Cat III system was put in place in December 2005 it made a huge difference at the Eugene Airport. Instead of frequent diversions and cancelations due to low visibility, most flights now arrive and depart as scheduled, unaffected by the fog.