this is why NE flying is the best...even the tricky ones like DCA just require you to bang a hard left after take off...

are there any tricky approaches out west? i know up here we have:

KDCA: Visual 1 circle to land on 33 or Anything to Rwy 19

KLGA: Expressway visual...not bad after you figure it out...

KJFK: VOR 13L...

KBOS: Landing on 32...

CYHZ (Halifax): it seems like the wx up there is always lousy and never moves...

at least I found these places to require some thinking...however there are many greater men/women than I

Are you sure? I have never seen anything that says the AP is mandatory. There is something in the POM about the AP being "available." Could you point me out the reference?

"Off the runway" RNAV SIDS like the ones in DFW are supposed to be flown A/P coupled right at 600ft. POM 6.1.13 #13 "For RNAV departure procedures, the pilot must be able to engage the auto pilot promptly at 600 feet above airport elevation."

I know it says "must be able to" and not "must engage" but they've always been pretty clear since we've started flying these DP's that they don't want us hand-flying them.

Im with you, but the NE is home for me. Most guys I fly with don't really want to be bothered with it.

The a/p on the crj does a really nice job intercepting and tracking the "fms course" in white needles so I have not seen a problem like the one you're describing. However once, I departed for MEM and was pretty light and therefore airborne pretty quickly and we realized the a/p was coupled to the wrong f/d. So we hit the XFR button and it started a sharp turn the wrong way. That got us a phone call and an asap report. But other than that, the "hands-off" approach seems to work fine.

Unfortunately, the E145 doesn't always do so well at intercepting. Sometimes, affectionately called "clearing turns" or "Stevie Wonder impression," it will turn to go get the course. Say you're on a heading of 360 and the course is 040, instead of waiting for it to come in and turn right on course (even though it already knows the winds), it will turn left to go get it. Sometimes it does it, sometimes, it doesn't, and it does it to varying degrees. At most altitudes, I'd be surprised that it's even that noticeable on a radar scope but it has come to be a big deal on these departures.

Actually DFW is pretty easy to get in or get out of. You just have your crap programed correctly and pay attention to what's going on. I think it's better than ORD.

That's just me.

When I was BOS based in 2002-2003, there was revised guidance that came out on the RNAV departure off of 27 that CONSIDERABLY narrowed the corridor. Not sure if it's still the case.

RNO can be a PITA.

The bridge visual into SFO can be fun. You're usually left pretty high, as well as have speed restrictions such as "keep the speed up for the 74 behind you but don't overtake the Brazillia landing on the parallel."

Only as hard as you make it, or if you're an FO, how hard the CA wants to make it. It's not anything more than a downwind entry with landmarks and reference points for the base/final. Super easy if it's in the FMS data base on an VNAV equipped airplane. At least till the controller tells to you square the base to final for seperation.

A fun approach, especially when right at mins an using the lights. Even cooler to be on the ground and watch a heavy doing the sidestep to the right.

Uhhh...so y'all are just blindly following the pink??

EDIT: directed to the first few posters!