Foreign Airlines to ( MUST) Use GPS for San Francisco Landings

[dixiegrrrrl]

Non-U.S. carriers landing at San Francisco International Airport, where a plane flown by South Korea’s Asiana Airlines Inc. (020560), plowed into a seawall, must use global-positioning systems when landing, regulators said.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration issued the requirement and cited an increase in the number of aborted landing approaches since the July 6 crash of Asiana Flight 214, which killed three people. Jets executing the maneuver included one from Taiwan’s Eva Airways Corp. (2618), the FAA said yesterday.

“The FAA has done a good thing here,” said John Nance, an aviation safety consultant and a former commercial pilot.
“They’ve got enough of our tower operators that can tell you when you assign a visual approach to these pilots from foreign carriers, they’re all over the sky.”

The increase in aborted landings, which are known as go-arounds, involved foreign airlines flying visual approaches, the FAA said in an e-mailed statement.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-29/faa-foreign-airlines-to-use-gps-to-land-in-san-francisco.html

Any current-retired pilots here who can comment on this?

[trof]

1. A competant pilot should be able to shoot a visual approach in good weather.

We do it all the time.
Sometimes we did it, even when instrument approaches were available, just to keep our skills honed.

There were so many errors in the Asiana approach it's hard to know where to start.
Bottom line: Too low and too slow should NEVER have happened.
NEVER in CAVOK weather where anyone in the cockpit is paying attention.

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. Air passengers make a lot of assumptions when they choose to fly.

But in acutality, it appears there is little information available re: pilot training/skill, safety of plane
( I am thnking of those Boeing parts that are apparently catching fire)
etc.
When I buy a car, if it is more than a couple years old, I can search and find recall info, various ratings, etc.
Have no idea where to look at same for airlines.

[dembotoz]

2. hope it is not that apple product

[Angleae]

3. This is assuming that they have planes that are GPS approach capable.

I'm not sure if the 777 has the system normally installed or if it needs to be added after the plane is built. Anything older does not have it.