Technique: Land and hold short operations
Are you up to the LAHSO challenge?
Just say ‘unable’
As PIC, you can decline any LAHSO clearance, no questions asked. What’s more, you should not be given a LAHSO clearance unless the ceiling is at least 1,000 feet with three miles visibility. Decline a LAHSO if there are reports of thunderstorms or wind shear near the airport, as you may need to approach the airport at higher than normal speeds and land long.
Illustration by Charles Floyd
• Land and hold short operations, or LAHSO, help air traffic controllers facilitate simultaneous operations on intersecting runways—two aircraft landing simultaneously, or one aircraft landing while another takes off. Some large and very busy airports, including General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport in Boston, have installed in-pavement lighting systems that remain on or flash whenever LAHSO is expected to be conducted for a particular runway.
• Student pilots operating as pilot in command cannot accept a LAHSO clearance. For everyone else, preparation for a LAHSO begins before you hear that announcement on the AWOS.
• No pilot should be surprised to learn that an airport uses LAHSO. That information can be found in the Chart Supplement (formerly the Airport/Facility Directory)—specifically the landing runway, hold-short point, and available landing distance data. (See “To Land or Not to Land,” sidebar.) The controller can give you available landing distance as well.
• As pilot in command, the decision to accept or decline a LAHSO clearance rests with you (see “Just Say ‘Unable,’” image caption). If you accept, you must treat it as you would any other clearance. Read back the entire LAHSO clearance, including the worlds “Hold short of [runway/taxiway/or point].”
• If you need to go around, maintain safe separation from other aircraft or vehicles and notify the controller promptly.
• When you’ve landed, exit the runway at the first convenient taxiway unless told otherwise before you reach the hold-short point. Otherwise stop and wait at the hold-short point.
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