Amazing 1R landings at SFO - Rare event

Sunday February 9, 2020
Winds thrashed the San Francisco Bay area with gusts up to 75mph. SFO ATC were forced to open the rarest approach: ILS28R Circle to 1R Visual.
It's a highly uncommon, completely manual, hand-flown approach as pilots must make a last minute 90 degree turn to line up with the runway. This is due to terrain directly in front of the runway, which doesn't allow for straight approach.
There is no VASI, PAPI and a few pilots I spoke to who made this approach said their FMC had nothing to input to guide the approach.
For aviation fans, this reminds us of the legendary Kai-Tak airport, which featured the "checkerboard" approach. However, even that odd approach had guidance to help pilots.
This is part 1 of 2. The next in the series will feature more 777, a 787 dreamliner and more! Please take a moment to subscribe if you enjoy my content.

[@MirAviationSFO]

Quick note of apology for the shaky video. We were getting gusts of 50mph on the garage-top and it was a monumental effort keeping the aircraft in frame at 600mm focal length. Tripod was not an option as the wind was easily able to topple mine over.

[@landoswag04]

That Swiss Air 777 approach might be one of the most beautiful landing videos on KZbin. Once in a lifetime capture.

[@robdude1969]

I was driving south on 101 when that Swiss plane flew over. I got a shot from the freeway and freaked out at how low the plane was over the cars. I pulled over to watch more, but none seemed as impressive.

[@TheBiocart]

I watched that Swiss Air flight land from up on the hill. He took a far lower and sharper turn than the others. Below the tree tops. Must have been interesting for the passengers

[@MirAviationSFO]

You're correct, his approach was way lower and the final turn was much sharper than others. It was a great show for spectators :) A Purser on board this flight told me they were clenching their seats

[@eaglemotion292]

Wow thank you for capturing and explaining this! I can't stop watching that Swiss 777 bank

[@apexaviation3671]

A small glimpse of the long forgotten Kai Tak approach.

[@thatkaveman99]

Wow, These are some awesome shots. You’ve earned my subscription!

[@pineapple8992]

I was there that day, the best plane spotting I've experienced. Notice the whitecaps on the bay--brisk westerly gusts, thus the approach. When you hear the planes going overhead then you know the approach is being used and everyone hustles out to watch. There were about 75 people out there onthe top level of the garage. The planes approach from the south, perpendicular to the runway, then bank right for the final approach, going almost right overthe garage. It would have been nice the pan out to show the full approach, i did a few of those but just with the phone.

[@andybadertscher9063]

you have some phenomenal camera equipment to be able to capture this. Very nice

[@melvinojr7318]

As a child my dad would gather his family to watch the massive beasts skim over the hilltop and quickly drop and follow the steep hillside which led to rwy1R.. Since he worked right on top of the Millbrae hill they would be so close it was like you could reach out and touch them. No video back then so I'm happy to see this most unique and awesome event.

[@jawoody9745]

Beautiful and awesome!

[@PortlandAviation]

Amazing shots! This was extremely impressive; I actually saw the Swiss 777 video on Instagram. I'm your 175th sub now, you deserve lots more!

[@MirAviationSFO]

Thanks! Really appreciate your sub 😊

[@aviation747]

Incredible video mate really well captured

[@BayAreaTraveler]

Well done! I also was there on Sunday but missed all the heavies and only captured narrowbodies.

[@SouthRebels]

Calling the cirlce-to-land approaches to 01R at SFO "highly dangerous" is completely inaccurate and you're creating a false narrative. There is nothing dangerous about these approaches. Unusual at SFO? Yes, "Highly dangerous"? No.

[@ermWhaddaSigma]

Ye i agree, I feel like a more accurate word for “dangerous” would be ‘difficult’, as it certainly is challenging even for experienced pilots, but in no way poses a major risk to the aircraft

[@ImmortalSynn]

Nice, though would've been even cooler if camera could've zoomed out for at least one of them, so we could see the turn relative to terrain. Hard to really appreciate its full difficulty, when seeing it against air only.

[@pineapple8992]

I was there a got a few shots like that. Definitely cool to see them coming your way at a right angle then make a sweeping turn.

[@wilc7409]

I was there too watching from the Marriott Parking lot. If only there was a video from the flight deck of the Swiss & Eva Air 777s. I got both on my lower quality camera.

[@justinappell8142]

Great video, but the text at the beginning "Highly Dangerous" may be a reach. It's a challenging approach to say the least. But of it was highly dangerous, it wouldn't be done.

[@juliensvideography]

nice catches , liked

[@MirAviation]

thanks! Appreciate it

[@allencowgill5494]

That last 73 hit hard! No flare at all. Lol.

[@MadeiraAirport]

Awesome footage mate, that's pretty rare to land on 1R, right?

[@spdodger]

Yes. Most arrivals are on runways 28L and 28R -- the two runways that run parallel with highway 101 and the peninsula. 1L and 1R run perpendicular from the peninsula toward Oakland. The approach is the same, but the hard right turn is to turn towards Oakland.

[@MadeiraAirport]

@@spdodger That's amazing!

[@blau724]

The way SFO’s runways are, squishing an international hub into a runway configuration that functions no better than LaGuardia on most days, is quite dangerous. It must be pretty tough for pilots and anyone working at SFO with the little amount of land they can use there. High terrain with intersecting runways jutting out into the bay with no room for expansion. I can imagine this runway configuration becoming disastrous someday. It already has almost been at least 6 or 7 times the last few years (e.g. Air Canada, twice)

[@blau724]

I feel bad for the people running SFO and having to deal with the runway configuration. They’re gonna have to shut it down in 30-40 years when it gets seriously over capacity because there’s honestly no place there you can build new things to deal with it. Or reconfigure Oakland Airport to gradually handle all the international flights from the Bay Area (Most people in the Bay Area don’t live near SFO. Besides, San Francisco and it’s Peninsula are basically done growing for good land-wise. Population is shifting in other directions. However, in East and South Bay, we still have room to develop more land and it’s less expensive so more people would use the airports in those areas rather than coming to SFO just because it’s the only really “international” airport in the Bay Area) and reconfigure the general aviation runways so that there are two parallel A380-capable runways spaced far apart enough to operate independently (which, I can be sure, will already function better than SFO’s current configuration when complete). Oakland has the most growth potential and it could be renamed accordingly as the New Bay Area Hub or something like that! It already is the main cargo airport in the Bay Area (FedEx hub). It can be a functional main passenger airport too. We just need more fast and frequent rail connectivity to Downtown SF, Oakland, SJ, and the Peninsula. We could run a frequent ferry or trains from the Peninsula to the New Bay Area Hub Airport to make up for the lost convenience of SFO to the Peninsula residents. Jack up public transportation. Or, maybe SFO can turn into a “Mid-Peninsula Regional Airport” kind of thing. Keep just Terminal 2 (far nicer than all the other ones at SFO imho) and maybe even give it a perimeter rule like DCA or LGA. Of course, I’m still dreaming, and this could happen in 30 years, 50 years, 100, or maybe not at all.

[@SFAvgeek]

I’m sorry, but sfo is also a brand name and a market. People would rather go to San Francisco than Oakland. An overseas runway can definitely happen, but the airport will also close in the next 30-40 year as you said, because the terminals will not handle so many passengers.

[@Honest300Al]

Because this is such a rare event, most controllers get fully checked out never having worked this configuration or a straight 10 configuration. While it is more work for the pilots it is simplified for the controllers as they are not using the crossing runways.

[@finiteflying1976]

Is it only me but why are the aircraft so shiny?

[@timberwoof]

The Rule of Cool. No one wants to fly in a dirty airplane. Also, dust and dirt on an airplane cause more drag, thus consumes more fuel,

[@AviationManiak]

I can't wait for part 2! When does it come out??

[@joefenech6839]

We’re you on the roof of the bart parking garage? Great shots!

[@MirAviationSFO]

Exactly the spot :)

[@joefenech6839]

I live in SB and have seen this landing pattern on very rare occasions

[@Kviation]

Awesome, where did you film from?

[@ShahidKhan-bo4qc]

my favorite plan EVA air Boeing 777-300er ❤❤

[@mtascp05]

Do you prefer this spot over the park next to the 1R for its elevated view? Thanks for the video, I had no idea widebodies could land there. =)

[@lustyfrog7221]

The american kai tak

[@maryblue75]

Thank you !,,

[@EIVLN]

FAA approach ban for foreign carriers in relation to this type of approach?

[@mrcarlosguy247]

Great shots, what camera are you using here ?

[@MirAviationSFO]

Thanks! Sony A7R IV

[@David-gv7xj]

Where were you capturing these awesome videos from at SFO?

[@imapaine-diaz4451]

This is from atop the parking garage at the Millbrae light rail station

[@apexaviation3671]

I thought they couldn’t land on Runways 1R and 1L. Interesting

[@timberwoof]

The wind is usually out of the northwest, so 28L (when it's open) and 28R are the most commonly used.

[@kaarongillett9962]

You wouldn't happen to the THE Mir from FB would you 🤔

[@MirAviationSFO]

Yes sir, that's me 👍

[@kaarongillett9962]

@@MirAviationSFO Now I see why SFO is so good 😅

[@MirAviationSFO]

Haha, thanks for your support!

[@Skibo777]

Make those pilots work for their money!

[@r.o.1330]

......some ground perspective would have added a lot to this video. the closeups of the planes got boring.

[@Mpritchett82]

RNAV visual to 1R ??

[@MirAviationSFO]

The clearance they received was ILS28L circle to 1R visual. There's no guidance

[@Mpritchett82]

MirAviation I think the atis was advertising it? We have plates for the rnav 1R visual. It’s pretty sweet

[@MirAviationSFO]

@@Mpritchett82 You're probably right, I was just repeating info one of the landing pilots told me. I'm not too sure what they got exactly. Also LiveATC wasn't working that day for me, which was very unfortunate.

[@timwilder9471]

Bank that b!t¢h, hells yeah!

[@PotatOqq-u3p]

kai tak????

[@sarahclark9256]

The old Hong Kong airport. Its approach was really wild (flying up to a mountain, turning, then threading between buildings. There are videos of it here.

[@MV_AVIATION13]

Kai tak approach