Approach to O'Hare

[SevenFiftySeven]

Just been on a drive down to Chicago for the weekend and spent a delightful few minutes on the freeway under the approach for O'Hare airport watching the aircraft descending for landing on the parallel runways.

One of my friends jokingly wondered if the aircraft ever raced each other in to be first to touchdown.

So, guys - I know you are professionals and the workload is extremely high at that stage in the flight, but come on - have you ever nudged those throttles up slightly just to land before that 767 on the other side?!

This question is purely for fun!

Personally - after some of the 'interesting' landings I have had into O'Hare, I'm guessing you're all just trying to get the thing down in one piece into the windy city without even noticing what's happening on the other runway.

[tom775257]

Hi 757,

Sadly I would doubt any pro pilot would do that, even at my low un-proffesional level it would be stupid to do anything to upset a stable approach. Just adding some power will change not only airspeed but also descent rate. I would never race while flying, especially during a critical phase of flight...and for me that is just keeping the safety of my instructor and me. I think it would come under the 'would be fun, but could lose my job over it' catagory.
Cheers.
tom.

[XL5]

IMHO the fun is to be had in paralleling the other aircraft.

[BOING]

Sometimes commuter pilots will speed up to get ahead of a heavier aircraft on parallel final approaches. They do this to avoid the wake turbulence from the bigger aircraft.

This would not be needed at Chicago since the runways are quite a good distance apart. You will see it at San Francisco. At SFO the parallel approaches are much more interesting, especially if the other aircraft is REALLY big.

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