[fingpilot]

Funny thing about this thread. It makes you think about all the ones you have done in actual conditions, then gone back some nice day and shot the actual approach in visual conditions and been 'soulfull' afterwards.

Juneau. SondeStromFjord. Barrow. LAX at sunset. JFK at sunrise. Heathrow after a heavy rain. San Diego. Xian. Like Joe said, Moscow, either one.

The CAt IIIa stuff, you do eventually get used to. It got easier after autobrake came of age. The first FLIR HUDs in the G5's and retro'd to the G4's were mind boggling.

I ran an all-sports airline for several years. NHL Hockey all winter, then shifting to MLB Baseball all summer. Was a blast. The hockey guys would come up and sit on the jumpseat for the CAT II (200 feet) approaches. Breakout to touchdown about 6 seconds. Then the flare in the long body MD83' and '85's. Just before the mains touch, you actually relax the back pressure, and let the yoke go forward. The mains are behind the center of rotation, so they are actually 'retreating' as you touchdown. Once you get used to it, will be a greaser every time. But goes against every reflex you have.

Even after the touchdown and taxi-back, you had to be careful transmitting from the cockpit because of the profanity from the jumpseat. They thought what we did was fing crazy. But they would stand in front of a goal net with 250 pound guys firing a 1 pound solid puck at you at 90 MPH. Maybe there was simply a point of view issue there.....

Most people would not want to see what really goes on up there, but once you realize how it all works, it is like an average person driving down the street.