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

In the mid 1980s an exceptionally heavy snow fall cut off much of the south east of England. So much so that RAF Support helicopters were tasked with giving “aid to the civil power”. My Puma flight commander flew some senior policemen who wanted to see the situation for themselves. They weren’t on intercom and after they had bumbled around at 500 feet or so and were on their way back to base, a note was passed forwards to the cockpit. It read “What speed and height do you normally fly these in wartime?” The crew obliged by showing them. A couple of minutes later a second note appeared, in rather shaky handwriting.

It simply said: “Oh $HIT!”

Did a 360 round Mt.Fuji once arigato to Japanese ATC

Had a nice low level trip in the S-61N from St Mary's to Penzance Heliport in the last few weeks before the service was withdrawn in 2012. We came south around the peninsula past Porthcurno and Mousehole and I doubt we went to 1000' the whole trip, certainly on that section of the flight I'd have estimated only 500' - we appeared to be almost level with the cliff tops which I think rise to about 300' in places. Vis really was superb.

In the 1980s, I was in the tower at Taif as a build up of incoming heads of state was happening. While chatting with the controller, the pilot of the inbound president of Sudan's 707 was heard calling Jeddah, saying the president wanted to do a tour around Jeddah, taking in the sights. As it was afternoon when nothing much happened in Jeddah, this was OKayed and the pilot called Taif to tell them he was on his way. The tour around Jeddah must have confused the pilot as initial approach to Taif had him heading for a landing on the main Jeddah to Riyadh road which happened to be parallel to, but displaced by half a mile from the active runway!

KSFO ATC were always very obliging and give us a bay tour over Alcatraz before heading NE up over Vegas for home if it was quiet enough. One evening I remember we got vectored all around the Bay on the climbout taking in Alcatraz, back to the west over Golden Gate and then a 180 degree turn back for Saulsilito. The third pilot had their work cut out providing a running commentary to the passengers.

Coming home from San Francisco to Heathrow (passenger) I always seem to come off 27L, over the peninsular spine to the Pacific, turn right up the coast then through the Golden Gate so I get a tour whether I want it or not!
With one exception - listening to channel 9 on a 777 the controller asked if we could do a Shoreline 9 departure. The immediate answer was in the affirmative. The controller then asked "are you sure?". A short delay and the answer was still yes. If felt like a full power take off which got us off very quickly followed by an immediate right turn to keep us inside the Bay. Very sprited!

I beg to differ, I live under the departure path for London Heathrow and you still notice them passing over at 6 ~ 7,000 feet, really can't hear the difference between any of its other Airbus or Boeing counter parts in all honesty

Sightseeing ... denied!
 

linkAeromexico Pilot Not Allowed To Wake Amsterdam With 4,000ft Flight An Aeromexico 787 pilot is getting some special attention after having his request for a low-altitude flight over Amsterdam published online. The request to Schiphol air traffic control was to fly over the Dutch capital at 4,000 feet. With the request taking place sometime after 22:40 local time on January 17th, it would have woken up much of the city and was thus denied.

The flight took place on the evening of January 17th, with the Dreamliner having taken off at 22:34, according to FlightRadar24.com. Luchvaart News notes that the pilot requested a deviation from the usual flight path to fly over Amsterdam at an altitude of 4,000 feet with the Boeing 787-9.
[...]

Pilot: Is there any chance that we can make a visual flight over Amsterdam at 4,000?

ATC: Flyover Amsterdam at 4,000 feet?! Confirm [this is what] you want?

After having the request denied, the pilot responds, “Okay, well, I was thinking because it was near the airport,” to which ATC responds, “yes, but then the whole of Amsterdam will wake up,” adding “next time you have to visit Amsterdam when everything is open.”
https://simpleflying.com/wp-content/...M-1000x620.pngThe aircraft was starting a nearly 12-hour flight to Mexico City. Photo: FlightRadar24.com Was the pilot out-of-line? Internet reaction certainly seems split on this ‘incident.’ Some are appalled that the pilot would even ask, while others applaud him for the courage to make the request.

While it may seem to be an outrageous question considering it’s just one individual’s desire to move a 787 away from an established flight path for the purpose of getting a nice view, it’s certainly not unprecedented.
In fact, The Points Guy reported in April on a situation that saw FedEx pilots request a low-altitude pass over Manhattan with an MD-11 freighter. In that situation, air traffic control granted the request. In the audio clip included in the Twitter post below, the pilot can be heard commenting at 0:46, “wow, what a view!”


It’s because of situations like April’s FedEx flight over New York City that adds credibility to the saying “You won’t know if you don’t ask,” as well as the variation “If you don’t ask, the answer is always ‘no.'”However, where the pilot can be criticized is the fact that the request was made at nearly 23:00 on a Sunday night. Whether it’s adults having work or children going to school the following day, it’s likely that a good portion of Amsterdam would have been sleeping by then, or at least getting ready to settle in for the night. Thankfully, the air traffic controller was aware of this and reminded the pilot of this fact.

What do you think about this request? Was it out of line? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Simple Flying reached out to both Aeromexico and LVNL, Netherlands’ air traffic control service, for comment. At the time of publication, no responses were received by either organization.

This was posted in Spotters Corner three days ago .

Why on earth should Aeromexico or Netherlands ATC bother to reply ?

Slow news day ...

Probably due to all of the fake outrage posted in social media....

That'd be great if it sets a precedent. Next time we're out of BHX on holiday (if ever), I can give Mrs F.H a dig a say "look, I can see our house from up here!"

Many years ago, as an ATCO at LATCC, in the early hours in the morning, the only aircraft on frequency was a Lufthansa 747. As he came up to Woodley he changed course slightly. Just to show that I was watching him I said LHxxx, I see you have just made a course correction, are you OK ? He replied: Sorry London I should have advised you. Just trying to give my passengers a better view of London. My reply Confirm you are LH oder Luftwaffe. Happy days.

If you take away all the detail about who how and when you might end up encouraging somebody else not to ask next time

I would say to just let it die out

On the other hand , a B787 at 4000ft waking up people at 22:40? the decibels audible on the ground will be far less than a motorbike driving though.
Slow day on the news indeed ..

Most of the residents of Amsterdam only seem to wake up at 22:40 in my experience -

Reminds me of the time we were operating out of RNLAF Valkenburg on maritime ops in the Baltic. On recovery from the north-east, ATC wanted to know what aircraft type we were. The response, "Nimrod", met with evident 'think's bubbles' over the R/T. Further questions and answers attempted to explain that we were a "former DH Comet modified to military maritime flying operations".
As the Navigator, I was surprised when we were given an early descent and told we were to take up radar headings. Further successive descents were instructed and more heading changes. I informed the flight deck that we were entering Schiphol's terminal area. As we levelled off at 200' and could see the ATC tower to our left, ATC came up " Ah! now we know what you are, take up own navigation to Valkenberg!"
To which the Captain responded somewhat tartly "If you'd asked us for a Fly-By, we would've given you one!"
Great view of Amsterdam though!

In more innocent times I would (& have) allowed such requests (not in airspace around big cities or sensitive areas). But nowadays this is out of the question - even during daytime. The pilot ought to have known better than to have made such a request. The controller was well “on the ball” & should be commended for his common sense.

"in more innocent times" - back in the 70s LTN - IBZ Brittania Airways - we were on finals to IBZ in clear conditions when the Captain came on and said that because it was a nice day, they were including a free sightseeing trip around the island and to 'enjoy the view'. Obviously we had gone into some kind of holding pattern (runway in use had changed from northerly approach to southerly as it happens) but it cheered up my white knuckle wife no end. The 'excursion' ended with a lovely 180 degree short finals turn over the sea. Awesome!
Those were the days.

On a homebound AAR Trail of four Jaguars with our VC10, we gave away all our fuel to get them to the east coast and we diverted into Lester Pearson Int'l, Toronto.
The next day, we had been chatting over brunch in the CN Tower about, "Wouldn't it be great if we could get some photos of Niagara Falls on departure?" Nothing ventured, nothing gained. We asked if we could conduct "a modified Buffalo departure". ATC knew what we wanted to do, so gave us initial vectors to the overhead of Niagara Falls with the instruction to "enjoy, and tell us when you're done!".
After three full orbits at 1000' with the pax and crew all getting great photos, we gave our thanks to ATC and climbed out en-route.
As kcockayne has stated, they were "more innocent times" - how the world has changed.