{"id":30115,"date":"2026-04-07T18:54:51","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T22:54:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/?p=30115"},"modified":"2026-04-07T18:54:51","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T22:54:51","slug":"san-francisco-side-by-side-parallel-visual-approaches-banned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/san-francisco-side-by-side-parallel-visual-approaches-banned\/","title":{"rendered":"San Francisco: Side-by-side Parallel Visual Approaches Banned"},"content":{"rendered":"

On March 31, the FAA announced an important update for ops at KSFO\/San Francisco.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The big news is that once work is complete on Runway 01R\/19L, side-by-side parallel visual approaches will be permanently banned due to concerns over separation<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In fair weather conditions, this will effectively almost halve arrival rates.<\/strong> If you\u2019re used to carrying a little less fuel to the Golden City when the sun is out, now is the time consider more<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Here is the background to this significant change to NORCAL<\/strong> ops.<\/p>\n

FAA warning.<\/strong><\/h4>\n

A new statement<\/a> issued by the FAA warns operators of airborne delays. \u00a0<\/strong>The first reason is straight forward \u2013 Runway 01R\/19L is currently closed until October due to repaving work.<\/p>\n

But this isn\u2019t temporary.<\/p>\n

When re-opened, the FAA will introduce a new safety measure which will prohibit<\/strong> side-by-side approaches to the parallel east-west runways in clear weather.<\/strong> Even if pilots acknowledge having each other in sight.<\/p>\n

\"\"

From October, visual approaches to parallel runways will be staggered.<\/p><\/div>\n

Instead, approaches will be staggered<\/strong>, with one aircraft offset from the aircraft on the parallel runway.<\/p>\n

This will essentially reduce arrival rates in VMC conditions to those typically experienced in IMC \u2013 from approx. 54 to 36 per hour.<\/strong> \u00a0It\u2019s an issue the FAA concedes will persist, at least until safer solutions are found.<\/p>\n

But why the change?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

A spokesman for the FAA confirmed that the change of rule came about from a regular quarterly quality-assurance review.<\/p>\n

The core issue is that the runway spacing is too tight.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The parallel runways are only 750 ft apart. That\u2019s too close for independent parallel approaches under current FAA\/ICAO standards.<\/p>\n

So that leaves three options \u2013 space the runways out more (not practical), run precision monitoring systems (such as PRM) or, in the case of SFO, employ a workaround \u2013 the ol\u2019 visual pairing trick<\/strong> – dependent visual approaches.<\/em><\/p>\n

In other words, pilots maintain visual separation from the aircraft ahead and adjacent.<\/p>\n

In good weather, ATC have historically run these side-by side.<\/strong> This boosts capacity but pushes separation responsibility onto pilots rather than ATC systems.<\/p>\n

With its announcement, the FAA is finally saying that the workaround doesn\u2019t meet modern safety standards anymore.<\/p>\n

More broadly, the FAA\u2019s safety philosophy is shifting away from \u2018see-and-avoid\u2019 in high-density terminal airspace towards more reliance on automatic ATC-based separation.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It seems that a human-dependent workaround to help mitigate struggling infrastructure is no longer an acceptable answer.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Under the new rule, VMC arrival rates will be akin to IMC rates.<\/p><\/div>\n

What is the practical impact? <\/strong><\/h4>\n

Essentially, this is the end of SFO\u2019s visual \u2018capacity boost.\u2019<\/p>\n

In good weather, expect things to slow down<\/strong> much more than you\u2019re used to. This includes longer finals, lengthier vectors, speed control and a greater chance of holding.<\/p>\n

These impacts won\u2019t be evenly spread. Expect the biggest delays<\/strong> during peak arrival periods, late afternoons\/evenings or adjacent to weather related disruptions as it will be harder for ATC to play catch up when the weather improves.<\/p>\n

For planning purposes, the main takeaways are to carry more fuel in fair weather conditions, a<\/strong>nd not to underestimate potential for delays. This is especially relevant for BizAv ops that have historically relied on visual arrivals to ‘keep things tight.’<\/p>\n

Where to from here?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

In its statement, the FAA confirmed that it is actively seeking new ways to boost arrival flows safely<\/strong> \u2013 we\u2019ll need to wait a little longer for those.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On March 31, the FAA announced an important update for ops at KSFO\/San Francisco. The…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":30122,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1232,1924,2332,2329],"class_list":{"0":"post-30115","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-briefings","8":"tag-delays","9":"tag-ksfo","10":"tag-norcal","11":"tag-visual-approaches"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30115"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30126,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30115\/revisions\/30126"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ops.group\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}