OK DB Thanks, I was not aware of ILS on r/w 27 at Sumburgh. Does Scatsta have ILS?
From what you say crew have the choice of runway in situations like this, and I realise wind direction is important for flight and landing, but in your opinion an ILS landing would have been possible unless there were other factors and r/w 27 or ILS not available.
Edited to add - the crew also have the choice of what AP level or mode to use - obviously - if flying on ILS is your decision point at a lower height or closer distance than when flying manually, as I assume from your reply most use fully coupled on ILS - but it's still their choice, or I assume the choice of the captain?
To put this into some context, in 18 years I have spent flying IFR offshore I have actually never done a Localiser approach for real. It is an unusual occurrence.
Can you explain to us non flyers what a localiser approach is?
I go to wikipedia but not always the best - are you saying r/w09 has a localiser guide which can be used?
ABZ only has one runway, but not for helicopters who have the short side approaches. On murky days at ABZ, do you fly ILS in poor vis and land on the main runway regardless of wind direction? Although on murky days there is usually not that much wind.