Originally Posted by
Check Airman
How absurd to think that a pilot of one plane who can see a well lit airplane a few miles away would want to take some responsibility for not bumping into that plane.
”That’s ATC’s job” seems to be the cry here, yet many would object to ATC “flying the plane for them”.
I get the feeling most here have never flown this approach. Nobody’s measuring the spacing with a micrometer. “See that plane over there? Don’t hit it. Cleared for the visual”. That’s all there is to it. No fancy aerobatics involved. Turn off the automation and fly the thing like you flew a 172 and enjoy the view. It’s great fun.
It's nothing to do with that. It's not because the pilots
can't do night visuals, or don't want to do night visuals. This isn't an ego issue. And it isn't a weekend club fly-in, where you all swap war stories over a cup of coffee in the club house.
This is an established commercial passenger airline, whose safety department has done a risk assessment and decreed that visual approaches at KSFO - where mark one eyeball is required to ensure and maintain separation during parallel approaches - are not allowed during the hours of darkness.
It is not that the LH pilots are incapable of visual approaches;
their company has told them it is not allowed. It might well be an insurance issue, for all we know.