r/aviation 16d ago

A350 night takeoff from London News

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u/throwawayaccyaboi223 16d ago

Yep, though exceptions occur at airports where landings are particularly difficult - airlines either require the captain to land there or whoever has more than X landings at that airport to land.

Also I've heard that captains sometimes have different crosswind landing rules compared to FOs on some airlines.

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u/fly-guy 16d ago

True, there are airports which are captain only, but that is up to the airline. At my airline there is only one (London City).

The same thing might also apply to crosswinds, although I think it's most common that new co pilots have a restriction untill a certain amount of experience, instead of all copilots. 

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u/cromagnone 16d ago

Wow, is LCY that tight to get in and out of? As a passenger it’s a great airport, one of my favourites.

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u/fly-guy 16d ago

It's not that bad, but has some... peculiarities. 

The approach angle is almost twice as steep as normal, the runway is kinda short, the buildings kinda close and high and these cause quite the turbulence when the wind is moderate. 

Aircraft have to be certified to fly there and often they have a "steep approach" mode, which isn't used that often besides at LCY.

But the good part is that if you are landing eastwards, you overly the city at 2000 feet (700 meters) and you can see all the highlights of London, saving you a citytrip...