Originally Posted by
galaxy flyer
Why do I find it hard to believe that we, as pilots in clear weather, need an ILS to find a runway plainly visible? The pilots on the AC flight questioned the controller, but did not question themselves, there's the problem.
I don't think the ILS being tuned and displayed or the FMS approach would, or could have, made the slightest difference. Once locked into the the visual picture, the crew wasn't going to change. What's surprising is they did NOT go around when they believed the runway was blocked.
First: It is easy to 'get the wrong visual picture' all of us will have had that every now and then and as references in my previous posts on this thread show even the most _obvious_ cues will go unseen indeed it seems the more obvious the cues the less likely they will be seen. The issue is how do those illusions get destroyed?
Had one of those queued aircraft switched on its landing lights the 'illusion' would have been destroyed. Similarly, had ATC switched on the 28L lights the illusion would have been destroyed, had ATC added to the approach clearance 'runway 28L is out of use unlit and marked with a red cross' - the illusion would have been destroyed. But all the players were happy with the holes in the cheese as they were and didn't think to try to close them.