One of the hardest places to land, in the world!
Disclaimer: I am not a pilot, just an airplane enthusiast. This is all from a passenger’s perspective.
One of the most exciting approaches has to be the Expressway Visual Approach into New York’s LaGuardia airport. It is apparently a very challenging approach that has to be done manually, which is alien to most pilots in this day and age where most of the flying, approaches and landings are all automated by technological awesomeness.
The expressway approach into LGA stands out as it has to be done with little to no aid (no glidescope nor ILS).
ILS — in short, is a radio signal that pilots leverage to line up and land at runways across the world. The Expressway approach at LGA has no ILS — in fact one of the few left in the world that doesn’t — and in one of the most densely populated parts of the world — New York City.
Glidescope — for the layman, is a radio beacon that helps descend and hit the runway at the right angle and pitch.
While almost all modern airliners are equipped to leverage both of these, the Expressway approach at LGA offers neither. If you look a the map below, you will see why.
With JFK to the right, Manhattan to the left and Newark(EWR) to the south west, LaGuardia…
