Hi all,
I’m looking for some views on a situation that developed during final approach on a flight I did on Expert a little earlier this evening. I was Air Portugal 1436 from Lisbon LPPT to Casablanca GMMN. Unfortunately I don’t have any screenshots so you’ll just have to rely on my description.
I was vectored in for ILS 17R by the Approach controller, with their handover vector being 150° at 3,000ft (runway direction is 166°). Having turned immediately on being given the vector, that put me on course to intercept the ILS about halfway down the red cone. Not in itself a problem, but a tad unusual from my experience.
However, what was more concerning is that there was another plane that had been sent in for the GPS 17L, and I was basically going to end up right next to it with the very narrow separation between the runways. I tried slowing to give more of a separation, but was already getting down towards landing speed so it was to no avail. We ended up right alongside one another, with the other plane a glaring red on my radar given how close the two runways are.
I am used to such things from the real world at the likes of KSFO, but it is my understanding they can only allow that to happen in calm, crystal clear conditions. GMMN this evening was swathed in a dense fog layer, giving very little visibility, and also had a bit of a crosswind.
I decided to go around, and as instructed after announcing I made right traffic. I got no further instructions so wound up in right downwind at 2,000ft, still on Tower frequency. It looked like there was a right clutter of aircraft further ahead being handled by Approach, I hadn’t been instructed to change frequencies, and of course there is no option on the ATC messages along the lines of “so, what next boss?” Therefore, after I passed below the glidescope, knowing 17R was still free and with a decent gap before the next inbound plane, I turned base and announced to the tower I was on right base for 17R. I was then cleared no1 and landed fine.
I’m not sure if how I handled this was appropriate, and would appreciate any thoughts people may have. Were my misgivings about the narrow parallel approach in low visibility misplaced? Was I right to turn base when I did and try again without a specific instruction to do so? I didn’t get any kickback or ghosting from ATC but was still a little uneasy about it - I made the call that it was a better course of action than getting caught up again in a clearly busy Approach control area further out from the airport.
Thanks,
Jon