Originally Posted by Meerkal
So he was not in TOGA before impact?
- why do you come to that conclusion? Application of TOGA when confronted with a rock face just in front will not produce much change in altitude as the Habsheim 320 found when confronted by trees - these things take a finite time. As for 'banning' the circle onto 12 - in my opinion a totally unnecessary suggestion - I would have thought it was one of the easier circling patterns to fly in general and certainly not particularly obstacle threatened. Are you going to answer your original comments about DME arc on R12 and 'back course' or were they irrelevant?
PJ - I fully understand what flying in those conditions is like - they are by no means unknown to me - the point was that I can see virtually nothing of the 'road' and thus cannot resolve the puzzle of the location being '2nm EAST' of the crash site as I would surmise they flew into the rocky cliff face on the same track as they were following to the site and hence I cannot understand your comment about a 'turn radius'.
Regarding 'heat and kitchen', I think my views on Arizona's finest's 'unique understanding' of circling procedures are obvious and I have actually had to empty my PM inbox to cope with the number of 'interesting' and supportive PMs I have received (including one FAA chappie!).
Amen to your last sentence.
As a final 'bigger picture' thought tacked onto this post - in my opinion, circling areas need to be set between the ludicrous TERPS and the over-expansive PansOps. Do folk agree? I understand the TERPS is being reviewed, but is there any move to reduce the PansOps? Having CatD at 5.6nm is totally unnecessary. With my eyesight I'd be lucky to even see an airfield that far away
