However, I am not a proponent of "localisms".
(Just for clarity, I meant local as in local controller, not "someone who is from here.")
I might see SFO twice a year at most so there's no ability to have a 100% familiar feel for the airport the way a person that is based there would develop.
Completely agree. But in SFO:
SFO ATIS INFO Z 2156Z. 28014KT 10SM FEW004 BKN200 19/11 A2996 (TWO NINER NINER SIX). SIMULTANEOUS CHARTED VISUAL FLIGHT PROCEDURES IN USE. LNDG RWYS 28L, 28R. DEPG RWYS 28L, 28R. NOTAMS... RWYS 1R, 19L CLSD, RWYS 01L, 19R CLSD. TWY B CLSD BETWEEN TWY F1, TWY M, TWY C CLSD BETWEEN TWY E, RWY 19L, TWY G CLSD BETWEEN TWY A, RWY 1R, TWY H CLSD BETWEEN TWY A, RWY 1R. SFO VORTAC OTS. PAEW ADJ RIGHT SIDE RWY 28R. BIRD ACTV IN VCY OF AP.
DEPG ACFT GET NMBRS AND BRIEF BOTH RWYS 28L AND 28R. ...ADVS YOU HAVE INFO Z.
It's the same thing as ORD, or LAX (we came out of the united gates practically at the end of 25R, and sometimes we'd be told to expect 24L, come to the top, and get a taxi instruction for 25R.) The only challenge is that with 28L/28R, the point of assignment is basically at the end of the runway, which isn't great.
LAX, even with the crush of operations going from T2/T2/TBIT and departing off the north side was a piece of cake for me because I had the repetition with the operation, had an intiution about when they're going to send us to the south side and a plan of attack.
Plan for the worst, a northside departure. Lets start both engines, get everything done, do the cabin PA so when we call, all we have is a before takeoff check and the cabin confirmation. If we get the south side, I'm going to taxi like American during contract negotiations so we're smooth jazz all the way down to 25R then we don't get in a time crunch and create our own emergency.
There's no amount of company pages that can replace experience and repetition at an airport.
Totally, and I felt the same way about SFO, LAX and ORD.
The crew in question, I assume got assigned one runway,
I will say that you don't get assigned a runway when SFO is running 28 ops. They're pretty explicit that you're going to get either 28L or 28R. I don't love that system, believe me. I think you should get some heads up on what to expect, and the controllers don't really understand what goes into the procedures for changing the runway. That said, based on the ATIS, it shouldn't be a surprise at the end when you're assigned 28R.
then switched to another at the last minute and made a poor estimate on how much time they needed.
From the jumpseat, I would debrief the reasoning behind taking the runway in the first place.
I agree totally.
ATIS or not things still take time to accomplish and always have unforeseen operational pressures. I'm disturbed why the controller chose to scold the crew on the radio because it doesn't accomplish anything and does not send a message to anyone.
I mean, I'll be honest, Delta is the one who picked a fight with the surly "Next time give us more than 30 seconds" snark, in my opinion.
I would definitely not suggest pilots get into a verbal battle with a controller, because they will eat your lunch and make you feel bad about it.