18-03-2009, 08:08 PM
This is just a suggestion on changing the " extreme weather during approach, but a safe landing with satisfied passengers" award.
First of all, I'm using ASX, so the weather is constantly changing.
Personally, i don't think that a turbulence that occurred for maybe 1 minute can be called "Extreme weather", or just a bit of rain that lasted about
2 minutes( Because of ASX update) when i'm around 20 NM from touch down. They do not affect the landing at all, at least in my opinion. When you are
almost to touch down, or it lasts for a long time, that's when it starts to matter, not just any turbulence or rain at any time in your landing sequence.
However, I think heavy fog and/or low visibility SHOULD be included as an extreme weather approach. When the visibility is below 4NM, and you can
barely see anything, that DOES affect your landing. Especially if you are flying to an airport you never been to!
For some reason i don't know why this is not included. I mean it does not make it harder to control the plane for sure, but when you are landing at a
runway without ILS, or an ILS without glide slope, or a runway in the mountains, it's extremely difficult to see where the runway is, or how far you
are from it. That normally lead to crash, or a very hard landing.
I personally have crashed into the mountains in Tibet when attempting to land at Lhasa ( The airport is elevation is near 11500ft with mountains at
least 14000ft tall surrounding it at all sides). The hills are very sharp, and i cant see anything in front of me. When the GPWS starts to call
"Terrain Terrain" it's already too late to pull up, plus there's no way of pulling up 4000ft in a second when you are at approach speed of a 757,
which is around 140 knots...... You also can't just make a steep bank since i'm flying in a valley for the approach. This also happened once in
Dubai as well, i just randomly crashed into a hill i simply can't see, and ATC did not say anything about the existence of it.... (I had to say FSX's
ATC suck...they give you a low altitude for the approach, then a mountain just pop up outta no where and you crash...)
Also i think high wind speed during approach should be included as extreme weather as well. High winds don't always come with turbulence, but when the
wind is blowing you side ways at 30knots, it's kind of hard to land. But the flight report don't say anything about high winds....
First of all, I'm using ASX, so the weather is constantly changing.
Personally, i don't think that a turbulence that occurred for maybe 1 minute can be called "Extreme weather", or just a bit of rain that lasted about
2 minutes( Because of ASX update) when i'm around 20 NM from touch down. They do not affect the landing at all, at least in my opinion. When you are
almost to touch down, or it lasts for a long time, that's when it starts to matter, not just any turbulence or rain at any time in your landing sequence.
However, I think heavy fog and/or low visibility SHOULD be included as an extreme weather approach. When the visibility is below 4NM, and you can
barely see anything, that DOES affect your landing. Especially if you are flying to an airport you never been to!
For some reason i don't know why this is not included. I mean it does not make it harder to control the plane for sure, but when you are landing at a
runway without ILS, or an ILS without glide slope, or a runway in the mountains, it's extremely difficult to see where the runway is, or how far you
are from it. That normally lead to crash, or a very hard landing.
I personally have crashed into the mountains in Tibet when attempting to land at Lhasa ( The airport is elevation is near 11500ft with mountains at
least 14000ft tall surrounding it at all sides). The hills are very sharp, and i cant see anything in front of me. When the GPWS starts to call
"Terrain Terrain" it's already too late to pull up, plus there's no way of pulling up 4000ft in a second when you are at approach speed of a 757,
which is around 140 knots...... You also can't just make a steep bank since i'm flying in a valley for the approach. This also happened once in
Dubai as well, i just randomly crashed into a hill i simply can't see, and ATC did not say anything about the existence of it.... (I had to say FSX's
ATC suck...they give you a low altitude for the approach, then a mountain just pop up outta no where and you crash...)
Also i think high wind speed during approach should be included as extreme weather as well. High winds don't always come with turbulence, but when the
wind is blowing you side ways at 30knots, it's kind of hard to land. But the flight report don't say anything about high winds....