Gatwick approach on SRA

[Safetynerd]

Hi folks...this will be my one and only post; although I do enjoy reading some of your conversations.Here is my question to the forum, which I guess is principally directed at that those of you who regularly use Gatwick. When doing SRAs into Gatwick (ie ILS is out for repair or more commonly due to routine maintenance on the main runway), at the 2nm (or more) point and having been given a Clear to Land from the Approach Director, how many of you then always make radio contact with the tower prior to touchdown ??OR do you sometime/always wait until you are taxiing before contacting the VCR ??My question is I think perhaps a little acedemic and there may not be a right or wrong solution. I just wanted to resolve a personal question as I have been told both and wanted to gauge some idea of percentages.Cheers

[bigbird]

It would totally depend on the weather. If the weather was close to mimima i doubt i would call tower till safely on the ground.

[Ozbod]

If the weather was THAT bad, LGW would probably switch the ILS back on. It doesn't take long to switch to tower and say "Hi ABC123, cleared to land". If you use Gatwick regularly then you would have the tower freq preselected already. I don't think I would want to be switching radio frequency on the runway and I don't think I would want to be on the runway if I wasn't talking to the tower.

[Safetynerd]

Originally Posted by bigbird

It would totally depend on the weather

If the weather was such that it was forecast to be adverse (ie fog with a cloud base limiting visual to below the 2nm) then scheduled maintenence of the prime runway would be postponed and ILS approaches would be used. Conversely if visibility was say 6 miles then the SRA clearance could be given around 4nm (to comply with MATS Part 2) or further out, which would allow the pilot more time to make contact with the VCR.I guess I'm restricting the scenario to SRAs that take place down to the limit of a 2nm for 'Clearance', cloud base approx 800 ft agl; which limits the time available due to increasing cockpit workload during landing.

[bigbird]

My last experiance landing on 08L last year had us going visual at about 100 above minima, the atis we had didn't show the lower cloud below 1000'agl so it had got worse during our approach, also the works were still in progress and by the time the ILS would have been back up we would have been off to our div. That coupled with a very strong southerly, left us well to the left of the centre line upon going visual, the last thing i would want is PNF with his head inside changing frequency when he should be monitoring my flying.
I always carry extra fuel when on the standby runway but that is mostly used up holding or going on a tour of the south coast.
I really don't see what the problem is if you already have your landing clearence, thats why its given by the radar contoller.

[Safetynerd]

I see your point Bigbird.....although I believe the instances of 26L-08R being worked on during low-vis are kept to a minimum to avoid such occurences; but as your recount proves it doesn't obviate the possibility.I was trying the gauge the aircrews view in a set sequence of circumstances and you have certainly filled in that part of the picture. I had heard differing positions on this, with some saying that all aircraft contacted the VCR and others saying that under the given circumstances it reduced from all to perhaps 50%; wholy dependent on workload and this being exponential with the distance from the 2nm point.Thanks for your help...if anyone else has a view then please comment. As I say it is somewhat acedemic and was for my own background knowledge & interest.Cheers

[Sky Wave]

CAP413

1.10.3 If the pilot reports visual in the early stages of the approach he will be asked if he wishes to continue the SRA. Normally aircraft will not be transferred to aerodrome control until after they have completed the SRA approach and have landed.


So, it appears that Approach should not normally transfer the aircraft until it's landed. In this example the RT should be: Speedbird 345 after landing contact Gatwick tower xxx.xx

SW

[pushapproved]

As the Tower controller we issue the landing clearance to the Approach Controller by means of an LCIS, (Landing Clearance Indicator System), or via telephone if this is not working.

If aircraft aren't transferred to the Tower before the SRA terminates at 2nm, then we would expect the pilot to make contact when on the runway, usuallly towards the end of the landing roll. However in reality they usually call on short final and we just re-iterate the landing clearance.

The sooner you're on frequency the better, even if you have the tower frequency pre-selected on approach so a quick switch can be made to monitor before touchdown. We can issue go-around instructions if they become necessary for any reason. The alternative is a priority call to Radar to send you around, (or via LCIS), but you could be 'between' frequencies!

[JW411]

In the military we always landed on the radar frequency and changed to tower on the roll-out.

I did an SRA approach at a regional airport 'oop north last Monday and was instructed to call the tower after landing.

Sounds like the same deal.