BOAC:
Quote:
we did not have to have the runway in sight if we knew the area and had objects we could associate with the airport in sight during progession to sighting the actual runway.
- I do not want to drag this out any further because it is going nowhere, but need to point out in case others may be confused - that is STILL the case. Whether it changed or not between 1981 and 1988 I do not know. It is called the 'runway environment' I believe.
I'll drag it out further, then. The rule changed in the U.S. (and for U.S. carriers operating home or abroad) circa 1981 that the airport, per se, must be in sight at all times during CTL.
Pertinent regulation:
(A missed approach must be commenced)
"...Whenever an identifiable part of the airport is not distinctly visible to the pilot during a circling maneuver at or above MDA, unless the inability to see an identifiable part of the airport results only from a normal bank of the aircraft during the circling approach." (emphasis mine)
My concern of today was that I might find myself head on to Gulfcapt on base leg while I am flying a right-hand circuit.
Hopefully, that wouldn't be the case when the weather is such that VFR operations are not permitted.