Another DCA River Visual question...

higney85 said:
I tend to have a visual in the FMS with a 328 (I think that's it) radial set in the FMS. Big picture. Once cleared, pop off the autopilot, clear the FD and keep the river underneath. At that point it's "this plane, that runway, over that water". Fun approach compared to the usual vector to join, aka visual. If things don't quite look right the "big picture" is on the mfd as advisory.

Doing it at night is a different, but still fun and basic, twist.
Click to expand...

Too much work :D
 
ctab5060X said:
Probably what it is are guys saying they are on the RNAV approach, when in reality it is a company published RNAV overlay for the actual charted visual approach procedure.

.
Click to expand...

We don't have those at Delta. RNAV approaches are either RNAV(GPS) or RNAV(RNP)
 
ZapBrannigan said:
Are you normally chatty on the jumpseat during any approach?
Click to expand...

Yuk yuk yuk. Actually we were victims of a guy who wouldn't shut up. Captain seemed alright with it but he also could have flown the approach better. Had I not been new I'd probably have removed my underwear and socks and stuffed them in the guys mouth, after removing his hat of course.
 
Pilotdude3407 said:
Hand fly. In the RJ we set up the visual to 19 with a .5 dme fix then run the inbound course to 148. Gives you a general idea if you really suck. Seems like the American and Delta 737 guys all come bouncing in when its 10&CLR saying "Washington tower Merican/Delaaa xxxx on the RNAV to 19". It makes me shake my head. Are you seriously letting the AP fly the approach vs being a pilot?
Click to expand...

RNAV envy.
 
I neither hand fly nor let the autopilot take it. In almost three years of 121 flying I have NOT ONCE done the river visual when it's my leg. Done the Mt Vernon I ton, though. Not sure how it has worked out this way. Oh well...one of these days.
 
Pilotdude3407 said:
Hand fly. In the RJ we set up the visual to 19 with a .5 dme fix then run the inbound course to 148. Gives you a general idea if you really suck. Seems like the American and Delta 737 guys all come bouncing in when its 10&CLR saying "Washington tower Merican/Delaaa xxxx on the RNAV to 19". It makes me shake my head. Are you seriously letting the AP fly the approach vs being a pilot?
Click to expand...
I'd give anything to get the simplicity of the CRJ back
 
I had the opportunity of flying regularly in and out of dca. The river visual is cool but I always found the set up more difficult than the actual turning...Seems like the controllers made it difficult...

What I found more fun was the Mt Vernon visual with a tight circle to 33. Get her on, some moderate braking and most of the time didn't even need the reversers...Piece of cake in the 145.
 
RumpleTumbler said:
Yuk yuk yuk. Actually we were victims of a guy who wouldn't shut up. Captain seemed alright with it but he also could have flown the approach better. Had I not been new I'd probably have removed my underwear and socks and stuffed them in the guys mouth, after removing his hat of course.
Click to expand...

Well you clearly have the right temperament for airline flying.:fury: I predict great things for you... :ooh:
 
ctab5060X said:
Look closer... it is for both.
Click to expand...

Disagree. This is a noise abatement approach that just HAPPENS to have a tiny little prohibited area adjacent to the final approach course.

I've been flying into DCA since the mid 1990s. What gets guys in trouble (or got them in trouble back in the pre-RNAV days) was that they were so petrified of getting too close to P56 that they would hug the west bank of the river. So when you make the turn to final, it ends up being a rather steep bank and an aggressive maneuver.

What folks need to understand is that P56 is waaaaaaaaay over there on the east bank. You would have to make an extraordinary effort to get over there. If you simply fly the center of the river, or even slightly east of the center, the turn to final was a nice shallow, gentle bank.

People made the river visual and the Rosalyn LDA much harder than it needed to be. I'm glad RNAV is in place. Give the monkey a peanut and he'll follow the magenta line. Much easier for everyone.
 
Handfly with a 5 mile RNAV centerline, heading mode, then nav mode for FD course intercept and VNAV 3 degree guidance.
 
Soku39 said:
How'd that work out for ya?
Click to expand...

Excellent.

The approach controller instruction was prefaced by....

"Colgan 1234 we are going to have you do something different if you want, can you accept radar vectors to split the restricted areas?"
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top