I have been flying into SFO quite a bit recently. There has been construction on 28R and left for a while. The threshold has been displaced and the ILS and PAPI are OTS.
We do the FMS bridge visual to 28R almost exclusively. The only vertical guidance is the FMS VNAV path and my Mark 1 eyeballs. I haven't done an ILS into SFO in a long time, you don't need it if you know how to fly.
The 300' per nautical mile is ingrained in our flying, we do a visual in the sim with no aids every year (we only do 12 month AQP sessions).
This may turn out to be a repeat of the JAL DC8 accident in 1968. Maybe we will see an acknowledgement similar to Captain Asoh. Article 160 of the Korean criminal code provides for sentencing to a prison labor camp of you are responsible for aircraft damage. This will not be a good outcome for that crew. And it would be worse if they had been expats.
I was offered a contract at Asiana back in the 90s, I have friends flying in Korea and China now. The remarks you read hear about culture and competence are valid. These guys are not trained to fly anything but rigid procedures. They are not comfortable outside their tight little box. Aviation exists in too fluid an environment to be operated this way.
Last edited by cactusbusdrvr; 7th Jul 2013 at 07:02.