at Alaska, on the 737, we set field elevation minus 100’ for all approaches except an ILS and that gets missed approach altitude set after glideslope capture. If you set missed approach altitude on an rnav approach in the 737 the airplane will go there

 

You have but so have I

 

In previous life, we flew strict Boeing procedures and the procedure for RNAV approaches was once you’re 300 feet below your platform altitude and descending to FAF, you can set the missed that’s higher, and the plane will keep coming down away from the preset altitude. Our planes will do precisely that.

A check airman tried to tell me the plane would level off and go to preset altitude and I bet him it wouldn’t. He ended up buying. He wasn’t the only one.

Another source of free booze and meals from check airmen has been the autoland features. Some check airmen didn’t think our planes were equipped with that option. They’d be the ones buying that day. We wouldn’t have the plane autoland, but I’d have it configured and walk them through the events, the FMA differences, the trim, and then tell them about the autopilot go-around and how it doesn’t kick off if you press TOGA while in dual channel.

More than one check airman has shown disgust towards the wall between the Standards and the Procedures silos.

 

Good on you. Don’t hold your breathe for a sudden new Age of Enlightenment at SWA though.

 

I believe it had to do with commonality of our types when we flew the 300 and NG at the same time. The 300 wouldn't do what The NG would in regards to LNAV approaches. Basically the only way to keep it from leveling off at every altitude was to set zeros. The brain trust thought it would be a good idea to use that procedure on every approach for all types thereafter. Thank goodness we weren't allowed to operate the max and 300 at the same time like they wanted.

 

There's a ten page thread on the union forum about why we still do the noise abatement takeoffs at SNA the way we do while everyone else is just using normal procedures...

But I digress. If there's ever a BNA base it'll be the mother of all bids, and create a giant reshuffle of the entire company.

 

If you hit the button on the mins knob, it actually turns it off. That's what I do. Either that or just leave it alone. Not sure why every captain reaches up and dials field elevation like that is somehow useful.

This is because the 737 and other Boeing planes come off the factory floor with the default setting to announce "minimums" over the loudspeaker when the plane gets to minimums. In a situation where you transition from an instrument approach to a visual approach, you want to turn that feature off so you don't get a distracting loudspeaker callout at 200 feet or wherever.

Of course, we have to "customize" the planes to fly it like a 200, so no V1, 500, minimums, or even altitude callouts here at Southwest because we are the biggest 737 operator in the world and we do it right, by god.

 

Because it's SOP here to overload the PF as much as possible!

 

GAME CHANGER! Thank you

 

New bases come with acquisitions. Who will you guys scoop up when the dominos start to fall?