LAX visual.... really?

ZapBrannigan

ZapBrannigan

If it ain’t a Boeing, I’m not going. No choice.
Anybody else think that LAX plays a little loose and easy with the "visual approach"? Last few times I've been in here the only thing "visual" is the airplane in front of you. Can't see the runway until you're on about a mile final due to smog/fog... whatever it is here.

Ju
 
Gentlemen, What's required for a visual approach?

Airport in sight OR the aircraft you're following. Nothing says you have to see the runway.

If it was easy 13 year old girls would be airline pilots.

megan1_narrowweb__300x281,2.jpg



Wanted a picture, that's the last time I do a Google search for 13 year old girls
 
I think they get used to pilots who fly in there all the time who are willing to play. Last time I went in there they wanted me to call the airport and I said unable. It was no big deal.
 
When I was an ATC'er at Fresno the opposite would happen. Jet traffic (higher altitude) would check in 30 mile final requesting a visual, airport in sight.

We'd be IFR, indefinite ceiling and 1/2 mile.

The low visibility was so close to the ground they could see us 30 miles out but couldn't see anything at the marker.
 
fholbert said:
Gentlemen, What's required for a visual approach?

Airport in sight OR the aircraft you're following. Nothing says you have to see the runway.

If it was easy 13 year old girls would be airline pilots.

megan1_narrowweb__300x281,2.jpg



Wanted a picture, that's the last time I do a Google search for 13 year old girls
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You still have to have 3 statute miles visibility and remain clear of clouds for a visual.
 
ZapBrannigan said:
Anybody else think that LAX plays a little loose and easy with the "visual approach"? Last few times I've been in here the only thing "visual" is the airplane in front of you. Can't see the runway until you're on about a mile final due to smog/fog... whatever it is here.

Ju
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"Yer not from around here, are you?"
 
DE727UPS said:
I think they get used to pilots who fly in there all the time who are willing to play. Last time I went in there they wanted me to call the airport and I said unable. It was no big deal.
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That too, and it's almost never a problem.

"Do you have the airport?"
"No"
"Cleared for the ILS and call me when you get it."
 
Scariest recovery I have had in a while was flying -2 in a section of jets coming back at night in crappy weather to Fallon. We were VFR to the initial, and descending through various broken layers over the mountains east of the field. I just told my lead "dude don't fly us into the mountains". We could see the field, but I knew some of the clouds under us had rocks in them depending on how far east they were. There is some peace in knowing that if you do ball it up in the process of such shenanigans, you won't live long enough to know it.....
 
At least it wasn't SFO. Norcal TRACON would have no shame making the foreign A380 pilots fly the Quiet Bridge CVFP to be able to use both the parallel runways at once. :D
 
///AMG said:
Scariest recovery I have had in a while was flying -2 in a section of jets coming back at night in crappy weather to Fallon. We were VFR to the initial, and descending through various broken layers over the mountains east of the field. I just told my lead "dude don't fly us into the mountains". We could see the field, but I knew some of the clouds under us had rocks in them depending on how far east they were. There is some peace in knowing that if you do ball it up in the process of such shenanigans, you won't live long enough to know it.....
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I hate VFR at night in the mountains. I'm like, well there's rocks all around here, I'm descending and I can't see a damn one of them.
 
inigo88 said:
At least it wasn't SFO. Norcal TRACON would have no shame making the foreign A380 pilots fly the Quiet Bridge CVFP to be able to use both the parallel runways at once. :D
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If they can't do that, they shouldn't be flying that airplane.
 
Simply solved. Any time I have ANY question whatsoever about obstacle clearance, I fly an instrument approach. I'm sure it causes all sorts of heartache and mean comments, but at the risk of being improper "FU, I used to fly in to Mexico". Mexico is a great place to learn about the omniscience (or lack thereof) of ATC. As far as I can tell, Mexican controllers exist with the sole purpose of decorating the mountains with stupid gringos.

"QUE? UNABLE."
 
z987k said:
I hate VFR at night in the mountains. I'm like, well there's rocks all around here, I'm descending and I can't see a damn one of them.
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I hear ya brother. There is almost nothing good about flying at night. Almost. The one that makes all the crappy scary nights worth it is just the "burn some hours" night event, where you go out alone on a bad wx night, and just keep climbing until you get on top....full blower, keeping a hesitant eye on the cabin pressure gauge. But you break out at 40k, and you are pretty much touching the face of god. Throw on the goggles, and you believe it. Big moon, shooting stars as far as the eye can see, the whole world below you is a milk bowl, but you are above it all. That is just one of those things where there are no sufficient words.
 
///AMG said:
I hear ya brother. There is almost nothing good about flying at night. Almost. The one that makes all the crappy scary nights worth it is just the "burn some hours" night event, where you go out alone on a bad wx night, and just keep climbing until you get on top....full blower, keeping a hesitant eye on the cabin pressure gauge. But you break out at 40k, and you are pretty much touching the face of god. Throw on the goggles, and you believe it. Big moon, shooting stars as far as the eye can see, the whole world below you is a milk bowl, but you are above it all. That is just one of those things where there are no sufficient words.
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Can't quite top that, but a month or so ago there was a meteor shower going on. It was like 3am, heading back from Boise in Eastern Oregon 26k or so, no ground lights anywhere. Just beautiful. I turned all the cockpit lights off, and anything I couldn't I dimmed as much as possible for as much night vision as I could get. You could see the milk way. I'd never seen it before with the naked eye. There were also meteors going for more than 180* of the sky, lasting for many seconds. So amazing.
 
z987k said:
Can't quite top that, but a month or so ago there was a meteor shower going on. It was like 3am, heading back from Boise in Eastern Oregon 26k or so, no ground lights anywhere. Just beautiful. I turned all the cockpit lights off, and anything I couldn't I dimmed as much as possible for as much night vision as I could get. You could see the milk way. I'd never seen it before with the naked eye. There were also meteors going for more than 180* of the sky, lasting for many seconds. So amazing.
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Glad you posted this, because now I get to confess, too. Coming back from my commercial ride, flying "high" in my 172RG (ok, not mine). Oxygen deprivation might have had something to do with it, but I was on top of the overcast, and there was no moon, luckily enough. I spent the entire trip craning my neck to look at all of the lights, and (remember, I was oxygen deprived) thinking about how many years it had taken for those lights to reach my dumb little head, and how unusual it was to be in a position to see them. Vast beyond the dreams of antiquity (where most of us really reside), the Universe. Quite possibly the best thing about operating Aviation Appliances for a living, getting to see how absurdly tiny and small all our little pursefights really are. I mean, we don't do it for the Money or the Meow, do we? If you do you're a sub-retard and should not only not be in a cockpit, but probably shouldn't be in the genepool at all.

Another one that stuck with me was flying back from Florida (of course) during the springtime, and clawing our way up to 450 to get past a line (Bitchjet is NOT happy at 450) and seeing a line of storms from Michigan to Texas. The lightning was like a strobe from 9 to 3 o clock. What a great place to be. Then I looked at my check. That thing was 100% of the EARTH.
 
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