Cycle Pilot

Until they merged with Continental!

Big Duke 6

Expressway visual 31 LGA.. Not only do they have cranes up working on the new Trash separation facility right off the approach end of the runway you get the controller asking you to make a short approach so they can get someone off of 4

powrful1

Difficult to say for sure....Expressway 31 lga is ok...I li ke the River Vis more...but the Harbor Vis 29 in PWM in the summer is a sight.

ATCsaidDoWhat

Two memorable approaches for me were in the old days. First was out of MIA into DCA, running late and pushing the curfew. I think it was 2130 back then. No way we were going to make it, meaning a divert to IAD or BWI. The Captain had me go on the # 3 radio while he and the F/O were going max effort up front. I managed to get ahold of Washington Approach just north of Carolina Beach and when I finally got them on the radio, the controller read the clearance time, down to the seconds.

The second was coming out of BOS to DCA. A really wicked line of springtime weather was moving east and you could see the line forever. The plan took us over the airport and north for the right turn and the River approach. That wasn't going to happen with the weather; I don't think I've ever seen a daytime sky so green and black. We saw a CAL DC-9 coming down the river...stark white against a black sky. We checked the weight and figured we were legal for 22 (in a 727). Approach cleared us over Andrews and to the Anacostia for a visual to 22. We flew down the river, hooked a right then left over Haines Point and planted it on the runway, cleared 18 and made the taxiway when the wall of water hit. We sat for :30 minutes because we couldn't see. The storm was amazing, it twisted metal signs on I beams like pretzels that day.

The CAL DC-9 never got more than a mile or two south of the Three Sisters Bridge (about 13 miles up the river) before he hit bad turbulence and diverted to BWI.

Still love that airport.

serhito

Last month did the expressway visual 31 in LGA, except the controller kept us at 4500 ft over the tank. Instead of apologizing for it or at least a "oops", we got the "cleared for visual rwy 31", just like nothing happened.

xpressway 31 in LGA and river visual 19 in DCA both have the same critical turn. If you don't pay attention to the wind on that last turn, you don't have much time to correct it.

Dougdrvr

A lot of us really miss the red neon "Taystee Bread" sign for the turn to final

HouseOfPAE

I must say the noise reduction over the years is remarkable. I remember my father taking me to Gravely Point to see planes land when I was a kid (mid-to-late 70s) and you'd nearly go deaf hearing the three-holers and DC-9s go over. But that was the rush! Especially the 727's -- man, the whine and volume of those engines would flatten you!

And I write this as I'm on ASA3 over North Dakota (DCA-SEA). Ah, technology!

squawkoff

Just for the record there is a large difference between a missed approach and a go-around.

flyBanana

?? You push the power, pull the yoke, and try again. What's the "large" difference?

RedOverWhite

As another poster previously mentioned, if the runway was clear and spacing was good on both ends, it's likely they had exceeded their stabilized approach criteria.


A...um...friend...told me once that he had to execute a go around at DCA because they were too high and too fast, did not have speeds set for the achieved flap setting, and had not finished the before landing checklist. Better to go around in that instance.

Sometimes I really miss the Dash 8...I mean...I'm sure my friend misses the Dash 8.

Personally, I enjoy the various visual approaches to LGA, especially up the Hudson at night or the river visual to 31 at any time. One time late at night we went straight up Broadway over Times Square. It was pretty darn cool.