Originally Posted by
parabellum
Not strictly true. I can remember one evening being held at 5000' on a close-in downwind leg until abeam the outer marker for RW24 and then instructed to turn in, commence descent and make my own intercept to final. Although still well out over the bay the controller was getting very agitated when I advised I needed further down wind to lose height. It appears ATC/airport administration are far more concerned about noise complaints than they are in providing a safe, radar vectored arrival to a B744. The Japanese public and in places official support for the farmer at Narita, or the totally inflexible approach to curfew times goes someway to demonstrate the Japanese attitude to aviation and the accompanying noise.
I used to enjoy that after a 14 hr flight . .We used to train for that situation in the simulator, with a little anticipation slow to 170 knots abeam the FAF then flaps gear and speed brake . A descending turn to cross that last fix at 1600FT was fun and a bit of a challenge after a long trip. Certainly better than going to the fix to the NW and doing the arrival / transition.