Having flown into and out of KBJC hundreds of times, I’ve never been able to put my finger on which runways, 12LR or 30LR, get used more frequently. My intuition suggests that our dominant winds seem to be from the west, so therefore 30LR would see more action.
As it turns out, that’s true, but not by as much as I would have thought! Over the past four years, 30LR is in use roughly 60% of the time compared to 12LR which is in use about 40% of the time.
But that’s not the whole story! It turns out that both time of day and time of year greatly impact the winds we see at KBJC and, by extension, the runways we’re likely to find in use.
During the mornings and early afternoon in the summer, we’re about 70% likely to depart and land on 30LR. Conversely, late afternoons and evenings in winter yield about a 70% chance to land and takeoff on 12LR.
