PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - TACA aircraft crashed in Honduras
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Old 5th Jun 2008, 20:37
  #151 (permalink)  
bubbers44
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
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Just got the reply from TGU. Taca did overfly the airport and make left traffic for 02. For some reason Taca didn't feel they could keep the runway in sight landing on 20. Sometimes arriving from that direction clouds are on the downwind side west of the airport requiring a descent to get below them. With 2,000 broken clouds he could maneuver easier overflying the runway and descending below the clouds landing on 02. I have pushed a high approach to 20 with a last minute runway change because the captain is on the outside of the circle and has a difficult time seeing the airport in a low visibility approach. Minimums there are 5km, 3miles and typically they show multiple visibilities above and below minimums in several directions. If any visibility was 5km I did the approach even though some directions, as in this case, were below. We use prevailing visibility in the US for limiting. Down there the prevailing visibility is meaningless terminology. Nobody, including the FAA, could say what visibility was limiting. Everybody down there thinks it was pilot error landing long with a 10 knot tailwind on a wet runway so hopefully they will eventually open TGU again for jets.
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