RAT through out the whole discussion I had a feeling none of the fleet types had ever done a circling approach in anger on a cold windy night with the fuel gauges ticking down and your alternate 50 mins away.
They did do the decent thing and include a circling approach in the next sim cycle.
But when I got there they hadn't taken into account the pan ops protected area and weren't teaching that you had to stay inside its limits.
They hadn't modified the stabilised approach criteria (hence they were getting way way to far away from the runway outside the protected area).
And blank looks and stumbling when this was pointed out on debrief as the reason why my wings weren't less than 5 deg bank at the gate. That point was then dropped and we moved swiftly on.
Anyway my present outfit has a much more realistic method of dealing with it. Any airport that your likely to get a circling approach is cat C, Captains approach if its a circling and even the slightest hint there is something to bang into then its a sim session to qualify. And in the airport brief the protected area is marked. And also the modification to the stabilisation gate criteria which is normally wings less than 5 deg bank by 200ft.
PAPI's are not a requirement as long as you get visual contact with the runway mins +500ft. If you come out the murk at mins and they are not on then its a GA .
Which to me is a more sensible clued up way of dealing with things. Not that I have had to do one in anger yet with them. Which as I have done more than enough of them in the past is more than fine by me.
If I never have to do one again outside the sim I won't be even remotely upset.
Last edited by tescoapp; 12th Oct 2017 at 08:26.