Thos instrument om the sea guides the plane to the land.
Airport César Manrique is "the first one in the Canary Islands to use the European EGNOS-based landing system
This runway threshold area already has ILS (Instrument Landing System) procedures and the EGNOS system offers an extra alternative in the event of ILS failure due to incidents or maintenance; the implementation of such alternatives helps to streamline operations for airlines and passengers."
"Sometimes, when the wind is wrong, aircraft landing at Lanzarote airport runway end up diverting to Fuerteventura.
Here’s an explanation of the set up:
There is only one runway at Lanzarote airport, and according to the wind direction, aircraft can land either from the sea (Designated 03), or over land (designated 21). Our wind is almost (!) always from the north, which is why the runway coming from the sea is generally used.
But aircraft need to be able to land and take off “into” wind, so when the wind backs to a southerly, the runway is switched so that the planes come in over land.
And now we have the problem:
The runway only has ILS (Instrument landing system) from the sea side. ILS means pilots get a visual display showing the required direction and glide slope. It can even be coupled with the automatic pilot.
Using ILS, the pilot doesn’t have to be able to see the runway to fly down to it.
But using the land approach, without ILS, pilots have to be able to make a visual approach. They must be able to actually see the runway, and depending on the aircraft type, they have to do so at a specific height. If they can’t see it, they can’t continue the approach – the rules are very clear – and they must carry out a “Missed approach” procedure, commonly called a “go around.”
The problem can be exacerbated when southerly winds, which require landings from the land side without ILS, are combined with low cloud on the final approach, making it impossible to see the runway. The pilots have no choice, they have to go around, and ultimately, divert to the nearest accessible runway, in our case Fuerteventura."
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