Hendrick Motorsports Report

Jim Macklin wrote:

It was completely stupid actions by the two pilot crew.
They never were in position to do the approach. They did
not use the DME, the NDB or the GPS.

Based on my understanding of this approach, an aircraft holding at 4,000
feet over the BALES LOM would be best served performing a few turns around
the hold to lose the approx. 2,000 excess feet of altitude before starting
the approach.

As far as a situational awareness observation, I am a little curious why
the controller didn't suggest some type of descent vectors or spins around
the hold to lose the altitude, since he also knew the aircraft was last
assigned 4,000 ft, then immediately cleared him for the approach.

Before I get pounded on, let me point out that I do not mean to divert
attention from the pilot-in-command. Rather, this observation simply comes
from the fact that I have overheard our local controllers at Syracuse offer
these unsolicited suggestions all the time when they believe an aircraft
might be too high to start an approach.

Just another check and balance in the system, as it were.

--
Peter