Aeromexico pilots request Amsterdam sightseeing
 

Seems a fair request as it was new year. If you don’t ask you can’t get.

What the pilot didn’t know is that fireworks were banned in Holland this year to discourage COVID spread (that well known COVID vector of gunpowder?) so there shouldn’t have been much to see. That and that Amsterdam is famously one of the most noise constrained airports in Christendom.

Done that
 

Years ago on a BA out of Schiphol pilot told us he had permission to fly low so that we could see the tulip fields. He did and we did. Not sure many would be in bloom at this time of year though.

VFR route over Niagara Falls many years ago...absolutely awesome

I never experienced it on my many trips to DAR but friends said KLM sometimes flew scenic tour of the Kilimanjaro on the short JRO-DAR hop coming from AMS. Don't know if it was true.

All of which will probably never happen again in times when you will have your RT request on the interweb even before you landed. Which of course is illegal by ITU regulations but no one cares, unfortuneately.

Love the incredulity in the voice of the controller haha...She's like "whaaaat is this guy serious??"
You'll wake up all of Amsterdam!

I've flown that route many times in recent years with KLM. Arrival in JRO and the sector onwards to DAR has always been after dark. If on a day time flight.it would of course present great views even without deviating off route.

Used to circle Mont Blanc
 

A common trick was the DC10 out of Rio to Sao Paulo flying low along copacabana in front of the Meridian and the crew who had brought her in from Switzerland drinking ciparinias.
One took it to extremes below the top of the hotel and someone sent a photo to SR.

Freedom of information laws prevail in this case. There was a long court case about this in the Netherlands.

When all is open again he should just rent a GA local airplane and fly the Amsterdam sector. At 1000ft over the inner city is quite an experience.

Maybe I am confused with Air Tanzania. When I first flew the route in the 80's KLM used the then new A310 and had stops at Athens and Cairo, not JRO. I don't remember when they started the AMS-JRO-DAR route. Last time I went was 2002 and then it was an evening flight I think. But I do remember a flight from JRO via DAR in daytime and not on Air Tanzania, maybe due to a delay (I think they once had to replace an engine at JRO). At the time I think South African nationals were not permitted to leave the airplane. Anyway, long time ago and the mind tends to distort the past ;)

They must be exceptionally light sleepers. A 787 makes no more noise than a cotton ball hitting a wall.

Many moons ago on a BA 757 into Geneva, with the airport closed due to snow and having been in hold for about 30mins, the pilot announced that we had the option to wait and we were 2nd in the queue or divert and go to the back of the line, as we had the fuel he'd elected to stay and that we’d been given permission to do a little sightseeing. We flew down over the Alps and completed a very nice orbit of the Matterhorn.

:)

JAS

Lufthansa used to do a nice low level flyby of Table Mountain and Cape Point on departure out of CPT.

They did that on every departure. That was around 10-20 years ago ...

Back then they also did that to promote the LH flights into CPT.

The BA ATP inbound to Sumburgh used to be early so would go VFR and fly around Foula or Fairisle on a sightseeing jolly before landing at Sumburgh. Quite a few years ago though.

A BOAC 707 tried it near Mount Fuji in 1966.
It didn't turn out well.

Back during the 747-8 flight testing, we were coming back from doing some Saturday testing in California and the pilot decided we'd take the scenic route. We flew right over Crater Lake in Oregon at about 20k, then just as we got to the Oregon-Washington border, he request a descent to 14k and a vector towards Mount Rainier. ATC asked if that was for testing, and the pilot replied that it was for some 'special conditions'.:D
Beautiful summer day - we flew by Rainier (a 14k peak) so close that we could clearly see the people hiking across the glaciers - who surely wondered why that big 747 was flying so close by. :E

For years flying out of KSFO we would do the “Bay tour, own nav, 3000’ feet” right after takeoff when switched to NORCAL departure.

By saying that ATC knew that you were aware of the routing and would routinely grant it. This was always off the 01L runway. You’d fly right over the middle of the Bay bridge, Alcatraz and split the middle of the Golden Gate Bridge. You’d depart the golden gate on a 220 degree heading and resume the climb. Did it in the 737, 757 and Airbus.

Another fun tour was departing south out of KSEA. Our flight plan would take us near Mt Ranier, so we’d ask for a VFR climb maintaining own terrain separation and do a slow climb right by the mountain, about 15 miles off.

Got to enjoy the job when you can.

KLM also used to do the scenic departure out of CPT along table mountain back in the days. Probably absolutely unthinkable nowadays, but those were different times I guess