Originally Posted by
B2N2
Its a mystery why they didn’t take runway 9 with at the most a couple of kts tailwind component as the wind was light and variable.
At least a couple possible reasons:
1. Terrain to the SW of the airport would complicate a VFR pattern from 17 to 9L in the existing flight conditions.
2. Assuming the most experienced pilot was in the left seat and was PF, flying a VFR pattern from 17 to 9L would have required the FO to keep the airport in sight as PM. Circling to 27R allowed the left seater the best opportunity to keep the airport in sight.