Originally Posted by
Droopystop
At the weekend I was subjected to a rather interesting approach by the Scottish BA franchise holder. The cloud break procedure was flown to position visually on base leg. The turn onto final was only completed at less than .5nm from touch down at a height I estimated to be around 200' above the nearest obstacle. The aircraft was full and there was a downwind component. It all seemed a bit rushed (without reason) and would have worried nervous passengers. Should I complain to the airline? Is too much pressure being put on crews to cut corners?
Sounds like you hadn't a clue about what was going on ,and the only one that was nervous was you?
How the heck can you tell if there's a tailwind or not by looking out of a passenger window? Did you spot some smoke??
How do you know the approach was "rushed" when you don't know the operators stabilzed approach criteria and don't have any instruments infront of you?
If I were the captain of that aircraft I would be extreemly annoyed if some passenger started kicking up such a fuss with no evidence. It's the sort of comment that could get the crew grounded and investigated with a black mark against them with no pay till the airline realizes you have no ground to stand on. It's not going to get anything done about any commercial pressure the crew are subjected too. The only one who would ultimately suffer from such negative feedback is the poor old captain.
In short, if you have an issue with the pilots flying, wait till the engines are shut down and go and talk to him about it before getting off. I'm sure he'll tell you where to go!