Wasn't my best round of golf but still managed to win a little.
Flying into Guatemala one night (we were the last scheduled aircraft for the day for landing; after us the controllers would go home)..... while we were just about 200 nm from the field Guatemala got radar contact with us. They wanted to know if we were ready to copy Guatemala's weather. There was fog at the field and low overcast conditions. The report said sky obscured with 1/4 mile visibility. The controller then asked what were our intensions ?
I told him I would go to San Salvador and get 50,000 pounds of fuel and come back to Guatemala and hold all night until they reported at least 200 overcast and 1/2 mile visibility.. The controller said, "Please standby". A couple of minutes later the controller said, "Oh, Continental you are very lucky tonight; the weather has improved to 200 overcast and 1/2 mile visibility (nice Spanish accent).. We shot an ILS approach and at our minimums we picked up the approach lights and runway... We landed like a cat pissing on a piece of velvet and went to the hotel..
They were landing to the south which was better for a successful outcome because landing to the north require making a 180 degree turn within the valley with hard mountains above the aircraft decent altitude within 5 miles; both directions worked just that landing south was easier and faster.
I liked flying south ...hell of allot better than the N.E. USA where one cloud in the area can make all traffic hold and divert to an alternate airport because the snitch computers, the controllers, and traffic load was always a struggle and not compatible..
An Airbus first officer landing in Guatemala landing to the south.. When after landing and the first officer changes pages to get the airport diagram for taxi the Captain has already taken control of the aircraft... Just so you won't think he is still in control of the aircraft landing roll out.
Flying into Guatemala one night (we were the last scheduled aircraft for the day for landing; after us the controllers would go home)..... while we were just about 200 nm from the field Guatemala got radar contact with us. They wanted to know if we were ready to copy Guatemala's weather. There was fog at the field and low overcast conditions. The report said sky obscured with 1/4 mile visibility. The controller then asked what were our intensions ?
I told him I would go to San Salvador and get 50,000 pounds of fuel and come back to Guatemala and hold all night until they reported at least 200 overcast and 1/2 mile visibility.. The controller said, "Please standby". A couple of minutes later the controller said, "Oh, Continental you are very lucky tonight; the weather has improved to 200 overcast and 1/2 mile visibility (nice Spanish accent).. We shot an ILS approach and at our minimums we picked up the approach lights and runway... We landed like a cat pissing on a piece of velvet and went to the hotel..
They were landing to the south which was better for a successful outcome because landing to the north require making a 180 degree turn within the valley with hard mountains above the aircraft decent altitude within 5 miles; both directions worked just that landing south was easier and faster.
I liked flying south ...hell of allot better than the N.E. USA where one cloud in the area can make all traffic hold and divert to an alternate airport because the snitch computers, the controllers, and traffic load was always a struggle and not compatible..
An Airbus first officer landing in Guatemala landing to the south.. When after landing and the first officer changes pages to get the airport diagram for taxi the Captain has already taken control of the aircraft... Just so you won't think he is still in control of the aircraft landing roll out.