Continental Airline Pilots and ATC at Houston

[SFR]

Continental pilots, I fly into IAH frequently. Also, I have jumpseated in your cockpits many times going into IAH.

Yesterday (March 11, 2009 around sunset), I was going into IAH and the weather was IFR with a small pocket, clear of clouds near the aiport, well inside of the FAF for the westbound runways.

Many of the CAL planes going into IAH were accepting visual approaches going into IAH. How could you guys accept visual approaches at that time? There was no way you could conduct visual approaches. So, ATC tried to pressure us to take a visual approach into RWY 26R. Unfortunately, my captain fell for the bait because ATC threatened to break us off from the approach and re-sequence us. The result was that ATC gave us some wild vector, well inside of OWELL FAF that resulted in an un-stabilized approach that I managed to save. However, both my captain and I were extremely upset.

I have jumpseated many times on CAL in the cockpit. I've seen you accept visual apps into IAH and then fly straight into the clouds which is a violation of the FARs.

So, please CAL pilots, do not accept visual apps going into IAH when conditions are not VFR. You are breaking regs and giving the controllers a false impression that conditions are safe for visual apps when they are not.

IAH controllers, please stop issuing visual apps when conditions are below VFR.

My passengers and I will thank you.

Honestly, if you are on the loc/gs who cares anyways. I don't. I need to get in and do my bpos, I don't want to do a missed.

 

[propdog]

Continental pilots, I fly into IAH frequently. Also, I have jumpseated in your cockpits many times going into IAH.

Yesterday (March 11, 2009 around sunset), I was going into IAH and the weather was IFR with a small pocket, clear of clouds near the aiport, well inside of the FAF for the westbound runways.

Many of the CAL planes going into IAH were accepting visual approaches going into IAH. How could you guys accept visual approaches at that time? There was no way you could conduct visual approaches. So, ATC tried to pressure us to take a visual approach into RWY 26R. Unfortunately, my captain fell for the bait because ATC threatened to break us off from the approach and re-sequence us. The result was that ATC gave us some wild vector, well inside of OWELL FAF that resulted in an un-stabilized approach that I managed to save. However, both my captain and I were extremely upset.

I have jumpseated many times on CAL in the cockpit. I've seen you accept visual apps into IAH and then fly straight into the clouds which is a violation of the FARs.

So, please CAL pilots, do not accept visual apps going into IAH when conditions are not VFR. You are breaking regs and giving the controllers a false impression that conditions are safe for visual apps when they are not.

IAH controllers, please stop issuing visual apps when conditions are below VFR.

My passengers and I will thank you.

I noticed from your previous posts that you are an aerospace engineer. Therein lies the problem! You still think like an engineer. However, an airplane cockpit needs a totally different personality...somebody who is flexible. A book cannot teach you how to be a good pilot even though it taught you damn well how to be an engineer.

I am not saying you should blatantly disregard the rules. However, instead of thinking why you cannot execute this particular approach, you need to ask yourself...how can I do it? In this example, you can see the airport, there are patches of clouds inside the FAF. Look at your TCAS...are there planes close on parallel approaches? Can you safely maneuver around that patch of cloud and keep visually clear...(and back it up with you TCAS)? May be you can descend slightly below the GS to keep clear of clouds? May be you can ascend slightly ablove GS to keep clear? How thick are those clouds...is it thin enough to see through? During sunset, if you're facing toward the sun (like landing westerly in IAH), it can be difficult to spot the airport because of the glare (but that is not IFR)....can you see or distinguish any part of the airport? At an airline especially, they need people who can get it done safely despite not having ideal circumstances all the time.

Also, like others said, if the conditions were really IFR according to your perception, you should have refused that approach. Now if your perception of the conditions are often in disagreement to captains you fly with, other pilots in the area, ATC etc, then you may have to ask some hard questions about your own flying skills, confidence and knowledge.

You seem very book smart. As an ex-aerospace engineer, you are still trying hard to break away from the engineer mentality and fit into the airline pilot mold. Good luck to you.

 

[lookin4better]

The guy starting this post thinks he is : your_dreamguy

Does'nt that REALLY say enough about this entire post?

 

[pilothouston123]

check out dream guy's latest post...

Anyone know about Starbase Aviation in Ellington Field, TX?
Anyone know about this outfit? How is pay for FO and CA? How do they treat their employees, schedules, benefits, etc.?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

I worked for these guys and they are horrible and deserve him