SFO Approach Procedure

[Christopher Low 5,332]

Well, I have just discovered something quite interesting about San Francisco International Airport. I was having a look at the Pacific West Airways (virtual airline) website, and I noticed the following:-"If the weather at SFO is above VFR minimums, SFO does not use ILS approaches at all, ever. Pilot's who cannot accept a charted visual flight procedure or standard visual approach following other traffic can expect long arrival delays in a holding pattern, awaiting a break in arrivals for vectors for a full ILS approach."Apparently, this is the case if the pilot can see the two landmarks required for a visual approach procedure (the San Mateo Bridge, and the airport itself).Interesting stuff. This makes the flight controller's job far easier....and it also closely parallels my own approaches into SFO. Yep, you guessed it. I only ever make "seat of the pants" approaches and landings at SFO in FU3 (and in fact, every other airport in the region) :-)Chris Low.

[Guest R_Driscoll]

Chris, this is not acceptable. You should learn not only ILS, but to do full instrument approaches, OMIs, missed approach procedures, SIDS, VOR tracking, TRACON and ADF, traffic patterns and to follow checklists as you land.Otherwise one day you'll land with your gear up.RobD.

[Lars Peter 0]

Hello.Yep,- I agree with Rob here.Take a look into the FU2-manual for a start, if you do not have the paper-version,- use the pdf files within the "soldout" cd's.There is a lot of interesting nav.stuff to study there, and made in a easy way.It all makes the flights more interesting and you will have more challenges with everything both with the ATC, and the flight training itself.Take care.Lars Peter. :-wave

[Christopher Low 5,332]

You're all just a bunch of pu.....er, I mean "domestic cats" ;-)Chris Low.PS. I do follow ATC procedure at all airports. It's just that I prefer to do it without resorting to messy "up, down, up, down" commands from that, er......lovely lady with the radar system :-lol

[JimmiG 244]

Not a huge fan of the big airports anyway. I prefer to plonk down my small GA plane at at some remote, tiny bush strip :)

[Christopher Low 5,332]

The fact that I prefer the larger airports is one of the reasons why I prefer the San Francisco scenery. Simply put, I can land my Beechjet at more airports in this region :-)Of course, having lots of new scenery in this region also helps ;-)Chris Low.

[Hans_Petter 1]

Many years ago I landed at SFO as a passenger in a domestic jet. I remember flying more or less next to another jet that was landing on the adjacent runway. We were both coming in over the bay. I've never seen parallel use of runways before and thought it was odd. In any event, the visibility was great and I remember seeing the other plane gunning its engine a bit to stretch the glide and then seeing it touch down a few seconds before we did.Hans Petter

[Christopher Low 5,332]

Hans,I landed at SFO back in October 1995 (on a BA 747-200), but I was too busy trying to relax in the seat to notice if there were any other planes nearby ! :-)Chris Low.

[Guest Pieter]

>I prefer to do it without resorting to messy "up, down, up,>down" commands from that, er......lovely lady with the radar>systemHe-he, yes ATC and ILS (that gauge in the prop-aircraft - shudder :-jumpy) are not one of FU's strongest points! I would say FU has such beautiful elevation data (looong before FS) that it spoiled me as well in getting to be a "bad" pilot ;-) by just skimming in, along and over the hills and valleys and land any-which-way on any bushy airstrip! Now if I want to turn serious with ILS approaches and all that, still without ATC unfortunately (as the developer will never get around to that), I fire-up my trusty ol' X-Plane... Then for other fun I run MSFS and even once in a while download Flight Gear (http://www.flightgear.org) for a cold winter weekend!Pieter

[Guest R_Driscoll]

Guys, if you haven't already, you have got to shoot the approach at London City Airport. Its the most amazing approach, I think in the same league as the famous NZ land around the bend (is that Milford Sound?), the old HK runway approach and Ranger's CK. You can't do it in FU3 using proper ILS procedures, because FU3 only models a 3 deg glideslope, and the thing which makes LCA so, um, interesting, is that the approach from the west requires a 6 deg glideslope. Doesn't sound like a big difference until you try it - did you ever as a kid have that feeling of running down a slope a bit faster than you were comfortable with?But at least we've modelled LCA so you can try this for yourself. And you'll see why the 6 deg slope is needed.http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/115794.jpg

[Guest CaptRolo]

HI guys; According to some retired "heavy" pilots I talked to While I was in Frisco At the air museum in San Carlos , There are NO GA aircraft in or out of SFO .Only commercial Heavys Which make sense .Seems the GA are mostly at SAn Carlos And San Jose .Don't know about the other side of the bay . I need another trip to explore more . CaptRolo

[Guest Motormouse]

try the 'Khe San' style cross the threshod at 100'works great in the 'Twotter', and as a bonus, the gear is fixed so you can't forget it!!:-lol:-wavePete

[Christopher Low 5,332]

Ralph,Can I pretend that the single Windhawk that I added at SFO is some kind of corporate aircraft that has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with GA ? ;-)Chris Low.

[Guest R_Driscoll]

Fixed gear. Hmm, you might be right...