Visual approaches for commercial flights ?

[Mooncrest]

Are visual approaches still requested by crews or offered by ATC anywhere in the world ? I haven't heard of one on the airbands for years whereas once it was common to hear an airliner begin to receive vectors for an ILS/NDB/VOR approach and then for the crew to say they were visual with the airfield or runway and request to proceed accordingly. Do aviation authorities now mandate an instrument approach for commercial traffic or do the airlines, by and large, now insist on one every time, thus relegating the visual ?

Thankyou.

[EXDAC]

Are visual approaches still requested by crews or offered by ATC anywhere in the world ?

I would guess that over 90% of the airline flights that land at KPHX are cleared for a visual approach. Doesn't mean they won't have the ILS tuned and monitored. Typical visibility here is over 50 miles.

https://www.fly.faa.gov/Information/west/zab/phx/atcCharts/PHX_CVFP_00322POWERPLANT_VIS25R.pdf
https://www.fly.faa.gov/Information/west/zab/phx/atcCharts/PHX_CVFP_00322RIVER_VIS25L.pdf

[wiggy]

Are visual approaches still requested by crews or offered by ATC anywhere in the world

Certainly not unusual (at least up until a couple of years back) for it to be an option in places in the Caribbean when the weather was good.

I suspect the problem now at many airports is that deconfliction/noise abatement is simplified by making traffic stick with a published IFR procedure right down to landing, or at least until on final.

[topdrop]

In Cairns when weather is suitable, still requested and still offered. One of the visual approach tracks is a noise abatement procedure which joins straight in final at about 2.5NM.

[elspread]

They certainly are in the UK

[HershamBoys]

For operators, it will depend on company policy in respect of CRM, stabilised approaches, fuel management, suitable weather conditions etc. It is not good to point at the ground in a dirty dive burning fuel in a less than ideal configuration when using all your available whizzy kit you can manage an optimised fuel saving approach from top of descent. From a CRM point of view, once you depart from an instrument approach you can never be totally certain what the pilot flying is going to do, or where they are going, or which airfield they have seen. During recent pilot/ATC workshops in the UK, the preferred option seemed to for ATC to start out offering the most accurate possible instrument approach, and it should be up to the operator to request a visual if they ant one.

[Alpine Flyer]

Still used in less busy places and/or at less busy times even in Central Europe. Even more so towards the East. EGPWS limits usability in mountainous terrain. Italy seems to prohibit them at all times in most places.

[parishiltons]

Are visual approaches still requested by crews or offered by ATC anywhere in the world ? I haven't heard of one on the airbands for years whereas once it was common to hear an airliner begin to receive vectors for an ILS/NDB/VOR approach and then for the crew to say they were visual with the airfield or runway and request to proceed accordingly. Do aviation authorities now mandate an instrument approach for commercial traffic or do the airlines, by and large, now insist on one every time, thus relegating the visual ?

Thankyou.
Yes, sometimes and it depends, in that order of the questions.