[POLL] When do you issue landing clearances?

[Kr60f6IJ]

Question (in poll format): as Tower, at what moment do you issue the landing clearance?
(to give some context to the question, imagine two airplanes going to land to the same runway, this concerns the second airplane)

• Just after issuing the pattern entry to that aircraft
• Only once the previous landing aircraft has exited the runway
• Some other criteria (please expand in a message below)

This question was prompted by listing to a recent episode of the AvTalk podcast, episode 273 starting at 27:06.
They were discussing the recent “close encounter” in Mumbai where a departing Air India and an arriving IndiGo came too close to each other:

(image source: link above)

In that podcast episode, they mention that one of their listeners who is a 747 pilot for a European carrier wrote in to mention that he doesn’t really like how landing clearances are issued in the US (and I guess in India as well…).
Landing clearances are issued to multiple aircraft in advance, before the aircraft ahead of them have left the runway or even landed.
What he sees as safe (and it’s not mentioned, but I suppose that means giving the clearance after the preceding aircraft has left the runway) is not what he experiences in the US.

The podcast hosts ask the pilots in their audience to write in and indicate what they find safe. I thought about bringing that question to our (non professional) group of IFATC.
So, fire away!

[JSRibs28]

I usually clear a pilot for landing as soon as they’re established on their final approach whilst altitude, speed, and direction is where it should be. An approach controller hands aircraft off to tower, once established on their final approach, because they’re ready to land at that point (regardless of the preceding plane’s position).

A tower controller may forget to clear a pilot for landing if they have to wait until the preceding plane is on the ground. The worst that can happen is the preceding aircraft doesn’t exit the runway in time, resulting in a go around.

[Delta174J]

I usually clear about 8-10nm out.