rudderrudderrat - The quiet bridge visual shows crossing the bridge at 1900 ft (recommended).
Are you seriously saying that 100 ft higher is inappropriate?
The time taken to travel 2 nm at 180 kts is 40 secs.
By slowing down from 180kts to 160kts (average 170) takes 42.35 secs.
Are you seriously saying that taking an extra 2 seconds to reach the runway is significant for aircraft spacing?
1. They were on the TipToe Visual. The recommended ("should cross") altitude at the bridge is 1900 feet. The bridge is 5nm from the runway (6DME SFO). Therefore: at 1900 feet, the aircraft is 400 feet high, 5 miles from the runway.
2. If they were asked to maintain 180 knots to either a 5 or 7 mile final, they would still be slowing and configuring as they approached the bridge.
The above two factors may have combined to create what was obviously an unstable approach.
http://155.178.201.160/d-tpp/1307/00...TOE_VIS28L.PDF