Originally Posted by
Kill Switch
I agree...and who knows how much experience that crew had in Aspen. That might have been their first time there - and being a crew from Mexico flying out of mountainous fields, they may not have seen it as such a big deal. We all know the dangers of Aspen and places like it - majority of our OpSpecs has it listed as a special airport requiring additional training (at least one pilot has had to of flown there within the past 12 months, pictorial view of the airport (jepp charts with a picture of it)...
But in the end:
Was it legal? - sure. Approach was authorizing LOC DME-E approaches to the airport; tower was clearing aircraft to land.
Was it safe? - Questionable. Aircraft that landed before them had ATIS reports of 6-9 knots, but reported gains and losses of airspeed on final.
Was it smart? - No.
I don't know if it was legal if POH/AFM limitations were exceeded to complete the approach. The FAA anyway, probably has a different opinion on it being "legal." ATC clearing aircraft for the approach and to land is just that, the airspace is clear and no traffic dangers or threats, airplane XYZ, you are cleared to Do X-Y-Z.
It is up to us to operate the aircraft safely, something ATC cannot do for us.
I would be filling out NASA forms if I was one of the aircraft that landed that day.
Just my two cents...