Originally Posted by
Sidestick_n_Rudder
Excuse me gents, but I don’t quite understand. What exactly is banned these days? Visuals? No PAPI landings?
I have flown (and still fly) for several large jets operators around the world and have never seen any restriction w.r.t. to PAPI.
O.K., vast majority of runways I operate to have them these days, so no PAPI landing is rare. Still, haven’t seen any formal requirement for PAPI, or any restriction due to lack thereof...
The subject of the thread is not about superior airmanship, or lack thereof, it is about a procedural note that the French aviation authority placed on the use of instrument approach procedures. The issue is obstacles penetrating prescribed visual segment slopes for Runway 36. If the PAPI is inop in the daytime, no problem. If the PAPI in inop at night, not even Sky King can see the obstacles sticking up into a normal approach path (3 degrees or so).
Increasingly, aviation authorities are restricting night IFR operations to runways with such visual segment penetrations as a matter of both safety and liability. The FAA is very restrictive in this regard since a Lear Jet hit some trees at night in the descent below MDA several years ago.