I.O. and all,
Flying into JFK (or any of the three New York aerodromes….EWR/JFK/LGA) presents some interesting operational challenges. They (New York Tracon) will hold onto approaches/runways until operational limits reach limits or someone says “I’m not going to do that”…..rare to hear. After one recent Canarsie approach to mins (with weather well below ATIS report…tailwind/rain, etc.), I commented on tower frequency “I would STRONGLY recommend discontinuing that approach”. They are very reluctant to do so primarily because the airspace is so tight, when one airport re-aligns to a different runway, many times all three airports must do to also. Not so easy to do with all three seemingly undergoing endless construction/maintenance on runways and taxiways.
One recent accident at JFK comes to mind….a freight operator MD-11 off the end of 4R……tailwind/short runway/high ref/high weight/night. Everything has to work just right…this time it did not, but fortunately, the aerated concrete overrun saved the day.
http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?e...12X00863&key=1
Controllers (IMHO) view limits very differently than pilot types…..they will run you to the published limits. Sometimes in the airplane, you may not want to get that close to the edge.