Apologies for my late arrival to this thread - a fascinating discussion, which I confess I have only just come across.
My recollections are of early (1972-on) trips to Seychelles (SEZ) in the VC10, very soon after the new airport at Mahé was opened. As the VC10 was not equipped with GPWS in those days, a "straight-in" approach to R/W 13 over the hills was often used. This certainly was exciting but of course had to cease with the introduction of GPWS. Does anyone else recall these "fun" arrivals?
Originally Posted by
point8six
Landed many times on SEZ rwy 13 -(since 1978). Mostly either visual, arriving from the west, or from the south via a published circling approach, breaking off from the Rwy 31 ILS at 1120ft. into a left-hand circuit with published VOR radials and DMEs. The difficulty in lining up occurs with a strong SE wind due to rotors from the cliff to the south of the runway and strong downdrafts.
I agree; many of my later landings would involve this break-off from ILS or VOR/DME instrument approach to 31, followed by the published visual LH circuit (night or day) round St Anne's island, with VOR / DME checks.
Originally Posted by
point8six
A "fun" approach in a large aircraft along with JFK -Carnasie 13 and the old Hong Kong (Kai Tak) IGS 13
Yes, these were indeed all "fun" approaches. Incidentally, I have often thought it strange that all these "curved" approaches were also all, quite co-incidentally, on to a Runway 13 ... ?
JD
