Ask the Captain: What's the most challenging U.S. airport?

Question: Which USA airport is the most challenging and fun to land at? Betting on San Diego.

-- submitted by reader Coopone

Answer: This is a subjective answer and other pilots will have different opinions. I always enjoyed landing and taking off from Washington Reagan National Airport. The combination of complex airspace, short runways and high traffic makes it a challenging place to fly. Add crosswinds or weather and it requires an experienced and skilled crew to successfully fly the approaches, particularly landing to the south flying over the Potomac River to land on Runway 19 . There is a personal satisfaction in putting the airplane on the runway right where you planned while overcoming those challenges.

Q: Thank you for your column; it is so informative. San Diego's Lindbergh Field is something of an anomaly. It is near the center of the city and the approach to Runway 27 involves descending at about the same rate as the hills beneath the airplane. How much of a problem is this for the pilot?

-- submitted by reader c41b3269ff0679e7

A: The approach to Runway 27 in San Diego (SAN) is a localizer only approach. There is no electronic glide slope (vertical guidance) provided. Co-located with the localizer is distance-measuring equipment which allows aircraft to cross specific distances at specific altitudes. This step-down method allows a descent to 680 feet (MSL). If the cloud base is below 680 feet, this approach will not allow the flight crew to see the runway and a missed approach must be executed.

There is a visual glide slope indicator to help pilots adjust their descent rate once the runway is acquired visually.

SAN is a beautiful airport to fly into. There are terrain considerations. There is also a GPS approach to Runway 27. Increasingly this is the approach of choice when landing to the west.

John Cox is a retired airline captain with U.S. Airways and runs his own aviation safety consulting company, Safety Operating Systems.