Originally Posted by
PukinDog
LH knew they were going to arrive after dark that night, and that their own SOPs placed an operational restriction on them in darkness. A mandatory Part of the "System" is the filling of a Flight Plan, and in that Flight Plan there are areas where the Operator lists equipment and capabilities. Just after the Destination, Alternates spaces there is an area, Block 18, used for the purpose of conveying to ATC information of significance for their attention. Among the items of significance are Nav, Comm, Datalink, Special Handling, etc. That space for ATC also allows one to transmit info using plain-language text. For instance:
"RMK NO VIS APPCH"
Thats not quite how it works.
Does it say on the approach chart “Arriving aircraft must accept visual separation”?
The flight is planned according to the charts. There are charts for an ILS approach and I don’t see visual separation mentioned.
If the airline ops department are just supposed to know then remember that DLH fly to hundreds of destinations, each one through probably upwards of 50 ATSUs, are they supposed to remember the individual quirks of each one?
If you put a plain English message for every ATSU quirk en route the RMK box will quickly fill up and be rendered useless by the volume of information on it.
RMK should be used for Nav, comm, datalink and others as you suggest but if the charts say there’s an ILS approach available then to decline visual separation is not special handling or a specific failure.