Professional Pilot, October 2019

B eechcraft 1900D was cleared for a visual approach VA and transferred to me aerodrome controller 20 miles southeast of the airport Our runways are 28 10 Rwy 28 is the primary Sunset was 45 minutes earlier and it was already dark According to local procedures since this wasnt a military aircraft it wasnt allowed to fly VFR after sunset I instructed the pilot to make a straight in approach and to report a 7 mile final At 10 miles out I cleared the aircraft to land on Rwy 28 and advised the crew to disregard the 7 mile call The pilot acknowledged as required After handling 3 other flights of military helicopters in the CTR I scanned the runway for the Beechcrafts arrival The aircrafts approach to the runway appeared normal and crossed the threshold at a normal rate and configuration Just prior to the touchdown zone the plane started to climb out of the flare The aircraft continued to climb and raised its gear The pilot advised he was going around for windshear and requested to join the left circuit to return to land I approved the request and asked if he needed any assistance He declined I instructed him to join left downwind and sequenced 58 PROFESSIONAL PILOT October 2019 him number 2 to follow an Airbus A320 6 mile final Rwy 28 and to report the aircraft in sight I also instructed the aircraft to report left base for Rwy 28 Different points of view Right about then my coworker in the coordinator position became extremely agitated and lectured me on the rules I had just broken He said 1 That aircraft automatically becomes VFR after crossing the threshold and you cant let a non military VFR in the CTR 2 If the aircraft is still IFR you cant put an IFR aircraft in the VFR pattern 3 I just read the other day that all VA aircraft are VFR after crossing the threshold Its in the book 4 You dont have the authority to clear him for another VA He has to cancel his IFR flight plan after crossing the threshold Not so I said An IFR aircraft remains IFR until the pilot cancels his IFR flight plan lands full stop or crashes He replied Crashes Do you want him to crash You can see where this went Meanwhile I cleared the Airbus to land and after it crossed the threshold I cleared the Beechcraft to land with a wake turbulence advisory My associate passed the position to another controller and ran back to the phone to call the tower chief I wasnt concerned but I was disappointed at his lack of understanding about VAs In the realm of air traffic control a few subjects can elevate the passions and ire of our ranks During these discussions best friends turn a wary and suspicious eye toward each other and former professional adversaries become allies These hard and fast perspectives are often born of decades working at a facility that does things one way correctly or wrongly reinforced by a manager who was quite adamant about strict adherence to such procedures And like a genetic anomaly these traits and myths are passed down from one controller generation to the next One such example is the phraseology maintain VFR Who says it to whom and when The IFR conundrum VAs Let us review another nuclear touchstone the VA To add depth to my theme I will speak about FAA JO 711065 ICAO Doc 4444 and NATS CAP 493 for VA framework parameters and application Moreover I hope to clarify the conditions implications and hopefully RULES REGULATIONS Explaining the nuances of VAs By Glenn Woodward Contributing Writer Crossing the runway threshold is only a trigger for applying separation minima not a magical IFR revocation point Visual approaches