Landing into the sun
 

Was just outside the office having a ciggy and I watched a BAE146 on the finals into LCY. The plane was flying directly into the sun which was really bright and low.

How do you pilots cope with a landing heading directly into the early morning sun? One assumes that sunglasses are of help, but does the glare of the sun make things more problematic when it comes to judging the flare etc?

Just interested.

Yes, the glare of the sun definitely makes things more problematic. Most problematic of all for me was when I was flying on the North Sea, and landing offshore into the setting sun, with the sun's glare being reflected off the surface. Polarized glasses made all the difference - I could look directly into the glare, then inside at the unlit instrument panel and see everything without any difficulty. I am aware of some problems associated with polarized glasses; LED displays tended to be filtered out, for instance, but our aircraft did not have thak kind of display. For me, the glasses cured the problem completely.

I guess it might be different for the chaps in the situation you describe, but it's what we are paid for, after all.

Sure it does.

That's where experience kicks in and you know just where to look (and not to look) since you want to keep from looking into the sun even for a split second. Sunglasses do help :cool:

Where possible, a long stabilised (airspeed and rate of descent) approach also helps.

The rest of it is just like any other. If you get a hard touchdown, just take it :)

...or perhaps a quick announcement to the passengers to blame the glare of course ;) ...they'll understand, you've got live proof!

It does make it much harder. Sunnies are an absolute must (not just for looking cool). When the sun is right in your face, you cannot see the usual cues that give you an estimate of height. A skilled Captain knows which schedules and what time of year make giving away to the First Officer certain flights a must! Your reputation can be affected otherwise!

Faro was always bad with a westerly as the haze came off the sea and made sunset landings a real challenge. Come to that, all E-West runways at sunrise/sunset will be similar. Dohhh!
Practice Autoland it if you can't see too well!

A little bit of forethought solves this problem - get the co-pilot to do the landing! ;)

Rainboe and ETOPS - As an FO I can only say - ******** !;) :} :ouch:

edit : Sorry, should have used more squiggles and less letters!

Squint. If it is realy bad. I close my eyes.

:p

L337

Get yourself a cap and wear it the correct way, not back to front.:}

Worn correctly, it works a treat.

Put your hand accross your eyes and look between the gap in your fingers,

When you hea the screech of tyres you know you are back on the deck,,


easy eh !

That's why all the pilots have those cool sunglasses:cool: