Challenging Airports, Captain only airports?

[wheels_down]

Just curious.

Interested to hear from those experienced with Jet time. I have been told MCY is captains only landing for a few A320 operators.

I know some struggle with a certain Melbourne 34 approach but anything else out there? HTI? CNS? Been told OOL is a prick when the weather turns..

[airwolf117]

Horn Island for Qlink I've heard is Captain only. Its a challenging approach with plenty of crosswind and turbulence landing on a short(er) strip!

[The Green Goblin]

The only challenging thing about horn is the local procedures, radio experts and own voice lovers which broadcast excessively.

Plus it can also get pretty busy which makes it worse .

A dash 8 can pull up in a dime if you know what you are doing. I've seen the land in under 300m.

As for Captain only airports? Non that I know of. Captain only approaches? Yes. Within a set tolerance of the minima. Cat 3b, autoland etc etc. Captain preferred airports? Yes. You'd be looking for a cup of tea with the boss if you let a cadet land on a narrow runway with ANY crosswind or marginal weather.

But hey, I'm sure they can read about it and do it anyway. Experience is nothing these days :)

[Jack Ranga]

Dereel is definitely captain only, one way strip, rolling turbulence & the friggin' rabbits :ugh:

[harrowing]

Lord Howe with tailwinds on both runways sometimes, a runway that is not that long and a nice rock wall if you try landing short. :ugh: (literally)

[waren9]

jetstar go as far as mandating it for zqn and a few others based on f/o experience

[haughtney1]

Capt only airports? Anywhere.......when I'm flying :E

[clear to land]

Sanaa (OYSN)- at least it is in a Heavy.

[Mister Warning]

And Addis Ababa : HAAB.

[Paragraph377]

Australia and New Zealand have some of the best flying space in the world. The majority of our infrastructure also ticks the boxes, not perfect, but it does the job. To give credit where credit is due places like Hamilton Island and Maroochy, as well as Wellington or Lord Howe can be pigs at times, but certainly not a patch on somewhere like the non forgiving Kai Tak.

Incredible pictures of airplane near misses show EXACTLY why the world's most dangerous airport in Hong Kong was shut down 15 years ago | Mail Online (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2356942/Incredible-pictures-airplane-near-misses-EXACTLY-worlds-dangerous-airport-Hong-Kong-shut-15-years-ago.html)

[Jack Ranga]

Holy ****, one of those 747's was pulling pert near 30 degrees angle of bank :cool:

Back when there were no magenta lines eh!

[Flingwing47]

And don't forget Al Baha (look out for the flock of hawks on final 25 !!) and Abha (6,858 ft AMSL) or Alexandria ( 6ft BMSL !!) :E

[Luke SkyToddler]

My old outfit in the sandpit used to have captain only restrictions on Kathmandu and Sana'a. My current one in Asia, restricts the landing to captain only in greater than 15 kts crosswind and all taxiing is done by the captain :hmm:

Doesn't bother the expats so much because we got that experience from elsewhere, but I do worry about the local cadets who can get chucked into the LHS of an A320 with 4 or 5 years flying experience and have NEVER landed a jet in a proper crosswind or indeed taxied one.

[Anthill]

NVSS Santo in the Pacific was a CA only airport: Short (2000m), narrow (30m) and terrain issues.

NVSS/Santo/Pekoa Intl (espiritu Santo Island) General Airport Information (http://www.acukwik.com/AirportInfo/NVSS)

NVSS Airport Information (SANTO in VANUATU) | Meteo·Mobile Aviation Weather (http://www.aviador.es/Airports/Info/NVSS)

[Howard Hughes]

Every airport is a 'Captain only' airport where I work! ;)

[LeadSled]

Sanaa (OYSN)- at least it is in a Heavy.

CTL,
What an 'orrible place, particularly if the weather is a bit ordinary.
Not my favorite place for a night-stop, either.
Tootle pip!!

PS: Kai Tak the world's most dangerous airport ---- complete and un adulterated bollox. Every REAL pilot relished the challenge of places like that.

[A37575]

An FO is a Commander in training isn't he?

Only if it is ICUS. Other than that the F/O is there to support the captain.

[AerocatS2A]

Only if it is ICUS. Other than that the F/O is there to support the captain.
Technically maybe but the reality is that most of those FOs are going to be captains one day and they need support, exposure and mentoring beyond the little bit of line training they get for their upgrade.

That said, landing in Sydney during curfew with more than 15 knots tail wind on 34L is a capt landing where I work.

[Track5milefinal]

I think "Captain's Only" doesn't make any sense. I mean, that you don't let the guy land who came fresh out of his linetraining ok. But how are the "soon to be commanders" ever going to learn if you keep them away from the harder stuff by imposing "Captain's only airports", "Captain's Taxi / Engine start / Ground comm's / Fuel decision's etc etc... An FO is a Commander in training isn't he?

Totally agree... What about from the operational perspective from the point of view if the captain fu*ks up do you think the FO is going to chirp in and have his little bit to say during a difficult approach? .. Doubt that ! ... Much rather throw the kid in the deep end and sit back and observe so your in much better position to "command" rather than building a higher workload upon ones self!... Its a multi crew environment!! :ugh:

[Capn Rex Havoc]

Seychelles on a windy day.:uhoh:

[Lookleft]

Interesting that you can go from this:


What about from the operational perspective from the point of view if the
captain fu*ks up do you think the FO is going to chirp in and have his little
bit to say during a difficult approach? .. Doubt that !


To this:

Its a multi crew environment!


and then wonder why there are such things as Captain only airports!


An FO is a Commander in training isn't he?


Only when he is sitting in the LHS with a TC in the right guiding him through a whole bunch of stuff he probably didn't pay much attention to previously. An F/O is someone who should be developing their command skills by watching how the other person does the job they aspire to. Sometimes that might involve supporting someone into an airport that has been deemed by others to require the person, who has the legal responsibility for the aircraft and its passengers, to manipulate the aircraft.

[Anthill]

Not always that case, Lookleft. there are plenty of instances where the FO has more experience than the Captain. Due to the seniority system, when a company goes broke experienced pilots often have to start their careers from scratch. So yeah, the FO will do the professional thing and say "yes Captain" and give support where required.

[Lookleft]

when a company goes broke experienced pilots often have to start their
careers from scratch


I know that feeling and it is a good point you raise Anthill but the predominant pairing is that the person in the LHS has more experience than the person in the RHS. There seemed to be an assumption in some of the posts that all pilots are of equal experience and that Captain only airports were not necessary and were an insult to F/O's.

[Anthill]

Yes, I understand. I'm building my career now for the 3rd time. :ugh:

Without doubt, there are some airports/or situations with characteristics that need an experienced hand at the controls. Regardless of the relative experience levels, the cockpit gradient of authority should always slope from Left to Right. :ok:

[Lookleft]

Sorry to hear that Anthill, hopefully third time lucky!

[nitpicker330]

Tawau in East Malaysia. The old Airport was around 5,000' long from memory and was a Captain only landing for the 737-200/300/400/500.
It was painted with Boeing short field markers. If you hadn't touched down by them a mandatory go around was required or you'd end up in the shanty houses off the end.....:eek:

It was quite a challenge in wet weather, you needed to accurately land firmly on the markers then use full reverse and auto brake. Even then you'd usually use all the LDA....:eek:

[nitpicker330]

Just wish I had some pikkies from those days. No digital stuff back then!!

[sleeve of wizard]

Kathmandu is Capt only for most large aircraft.:ok: