Originally Posted by
MarkerInbound
It’s not so much that a contact approach is “prohibited” by OpSpecs as an air carrier would have to be approved to conduct contact approaches. There is an OpSpec, C76, in the FAA list of OpSpecs that allows contact approaches.
Thanks. That makes sense. When I started in the airline business in 1964 our Ops Specs permitted us to do what amounted to a contact approach using local surface conditions to continue a NPA below MDA without sighting the runway or ALS. We had to be familiar with the area. If Pilot A knew that Farmer Jones barn was along the path to the runway, he could progress predicated on his knowledge of Farmer Jones barn with respect to the runway. If pilot B was not familiar with the relevance of Farmer Jones barn, he could not use it as a progressive landmark. The local surface condition could be as low as 1/2 mile visibility. Crazy rule. Never used it. The FAA finally outlawed it.