B747 CARGO LINER CLRED FOR VISUAL RWY 24R CONTACT TWR ROMEY. VISIBILITY RESTR BY HAZE AND SETTING SUN. DISTRACTED BY TFC AND FINDING THE RWY; FO SELECTED THE PREVIOUS FREQ AND NO CALL WAS MADE TO TWR. ELECTED TO LAND SINCE NO TFC ON RWY. NO COMMENT FROM TWR WHEN CORRECT FREQ TUNED.

Date: 1997-03 · Aircraft: B747 Undifferentiated or Other Model

Anomalies: deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-landing-without-clearance|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-far|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-clearance|inflight-event-encounter-other-unknown

Synopsis

B747 CARGO LINER CLRED FOR VISUAL RWY 24R CONTACT TWR ROMEY. VISIBILITY RESTR BY HAZE AND SETTING SUN. DISTRACTED BY TFC AND FINDING THE RWY; FO SELECTED THE PREVIOUS FREQ AND NO CALL WAS MADE TO TWR. ELECTED TO LAND SINCE NO TFC ON RWY. NO COMMENT FROM TWR WHEN CORRECT FREQ TUNED.

Narrative

I WAS PIC OF ACFT ARRIVING LAX. ENRTE TRANSITION VIA SADDE 6. ATIS SHOWED 5000 FT 5 MI VISIBILITY OR BETTER (MY RECOLLECTION); VECTORS TO VISUAL RWYS 24R AND 25L OR R (?). I OBSERVED FOG AND HAZE OVERWATER TO W OF ARPT. THIS CAN MAKE APCH TO W INTO SETTING SUN DIFFICULT. RECEIVED THE VISUAL 070 DEGS OUT OF SMO DSND TO 2500 FT. PASSING THROUGH 4500 FT DIRECTED TO TURN R 180 DEGS. TA: ONE AHEAD OF US FOR RWY 24R (NO CONTACT) AND ONE APCHING FROM THE E FOR S COMPLEX RWY 25L/R. OBSERVED AT 10-11 O'CLOCK; SAME ALT FOR S RWYS. DIRECTED R TURN THROUGH 210 DEGS CLR VISUAL RWY 24R; TWR AT ROMEY. HAD GOOD VERT VISIBILITY; GND IN SIGHT; LIMITED VISIBILITY TO W INTO SUNSET; HAZE; KRUD SMOG; ETC. ARPT/RWY NOT IMMEDIATELY VISIBLE. ILS RWY 24R AND ROMEY; PREVIOUSLY TUNED AND IDENTED BECAME PRIMARY FOCUS. INTERCEPTED AT ROMEY; DID NOT WANT TO FLY THROUGH LOC DUE TO PARALLEL TFC. LNDG CONFIGN; CHKS; ETC; COPLT SWITCHED TO VERY BUSY FREQ -- NOT TWR; WAS PREVIOUS APCH FREQ. WHEN ERROR NOTICED WE WERE ON SHORT FINAL FOR RWY 24R; A CLR; LNDG ONLY RWY. WE HAD BEEN CLRED FOR THE APCH TO RWY 24R BY APCH CTL. SOMEWHERE IN THE VICINITY OF 300-200 FT WITH NO RESPONSE FROM ANY ONE LAST 2 FREQS OR MONITOR; I ELECTED TO LAND RATHER THAN GAR AND TRY TO RE-ESTABLISH COMS. I EXPECTED AN ADMONITION FROM GND CTL TO CONTACT TWR CHIEF ON A LAND LINE; OR PERHAPS; 'BY THE WAY YOU ARE CLR TO LAND!' ALL WE GOT WAS CLRNC ACROSS RWY 24L AND DIRECTIONS TO PARKING. I/WE WERE GROPING TO SEE THIS VISUAL RWY IN AN ENVIRONMENT OF RESTR FLT VISIBILITY TOWARDS THE W. IT IS NOT APPARENT (ALTHOUGH USUAL) THAT THIS RESTR EXISTS; UNTIL YOU TURN FINAL. SEARCHING FOR THE VISUAL RWY ALTHOUGH NOT TOTALLY CONSUMING OF OUR ATTN; WAS A PREOCCUPATION. VECTORS FROM AN ILS TO VISUAL CONDITIONS WOULD HAVE HAD US ON AN INTERCEPT WELL PRIOR TO ROMEY WITHOUT FEAR OF SLIDING THROUGH TOWARDS A PARALLEL ACFT TO OUR S. THE COMS FOUL UP WAS OURS; COPLT AND ME. IT TOOK A BIT OF HARD LISTENING TO REALIZE WE WERE ON WRONG FREQ. I HAD THE RWY FROM ABOUT 1500 FT; OBSERVED THAT IT WAS CLR AND NO ONE ON TXWYS E7 OR V AND OPTED TO LAND. LAX IS A BUSY PLACE. FREQUENTLY VISUAL APCHS EXPEDITE ARRS; HOWEVER; WHEN THIS IS THE NORM WITH MARGINAL FORWARD VISIBILITY AT ALT; IT IS NOT A GOOD DEAL. IT HAS HAPPENED TO ME BEFORE; DIFFICULTY ACQUIRING THE RWY; RELYING ON PRIMARY ILS NAV FACILITIES; WITH REDUCED SEPARATION. THIS TIME WE HAD THE GLITCH OF A COMS PROB. I LANDED WITHOUT CLRNC. PERHAPS SOME THOUGHT COULD GO TO THE VALUES REQUIRED FOR VISUAL APCHS IN HAZE; SUNSET; SMOG; ETC.

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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.