WingsofGlass
I apologize for posting here. I’m just an ignorant bug-smasher flying general aviation private pilot. I have no idea what it’s like to fly real planes for a living so my question may be totally ridiculous. But if I was flying into SFO and there was no ILS or PAPIs and I was assigned the 28L visual, I would load the RNAV 28L approach which has LPV precision guidance and use it as a check to make sure I was doing the right thing on the right runway. Is there some reason why you wouldn’t do the same in a 777? Frankly if given the choice, I'd rather have LPV guidance than PAPI/VASIs.
There have been many commenting in a similar way. However, the same beancounters that want to 'save the cost of training' by not allowing manual flight at high level and training in visual approaches also save money by not training crews in use of the RNP capabilities of the aircraft. This is true of many European carriers as well so crews may not (officially) know how to use the capabilities of their avionics. This is the reason for RNP-Authorization Required, the aircraft AND the crew need to be authorized as capable.
For me I just cannot understand SFO not putting out some temporary PAPIs its not like we are talking about Little Podunk International - this is a major international airport with a runway over water which gives pilots very poor altitude perception. I agree that is no problem to people who fly in and out VFR every day, and the probability is only 1 in 1000 that someone less experienced would undershoot. Well congratulations you bet it all on red and red came up. Remember USA is one of the very few countries in the world whereVFR approaches by commercial passenger carrying aircraft are legal.