Originally Posted by
CW247
The US understanding of visual approaches speeding up arrivals is a bit flawed. Lining up a stream of visual traffic is no different to lining up a stream of ILS traffic if done properly. This is simply ATC being lazy and passing the buck.
Also, US controllers don't understand that pilots arriving from Europe are doing their approaches in survival mode with very little room for acrobatics. A night visual is not a healthy way to land a widebody given awake times of 16-18 hours.
Yet somehow widebody operators flew the checkerboard approach into Kai Tak, in all sorts of weather transitioning to a pure visual at low level after such long flight times, a far more challenging approach by any measure ‘acrobatics’ seriously?
This visual approach into SFO has lateral and vertical guidance provided by LNAV / VNAV, if LH decided it’s outside their pilots capabilities to look out the window to spot other aircraft ATC points out to them they should consider whether they want to continue service there
Why should they get special treatment? No other operators are demanding this, not sure how they thought swearing at the controller would help them, that was highly unprofessional, LH sops are the source of the problem here but this pilot made things much worse with his attitude and made a diversion inevitable
Im surprised the controller didn’t tell him to squawk VFR, radar service terminated