A320 doing S-turns at LAS

A few weeks ago I was in Las Vegas. My company has its offices
just down the street from one of the runways. Since I had a 3
week hiatus from working on my IFR ticket, I was drooling everytime
I saw a plane land.

One time I was about 1/4" before the threshold at a red light. One
plane passed by and then i noticed another plane probably 2 miles
behind that. I thought, "Hmm, that is really close. I'm surprised
he isn't being bounced around from the wake turbulence or they
snuck in a light aircraft in between the big metal." As
I'm thinking this, I see the plane break away to the left and I
figured he was going missed. I then recognize it as a Jet Blue
A320. I then see it turning back onto the localizer, then another
S turn, back onto the localizer for landing. This plane was on
short short, REAL short final for a jet. The plane couldn't have
been more than 1000 feet in the air and a mile and a half and
15 seconds from landing. yes, it was that close.

I never ever expected to see a Part 121 doing S-turns on final
on an ILS approach (in VMC). I spoke to my friend, an A320 driver
for UA and he said it is perfectly legal but not exactly something
you want to do. he's never done it. I can't imagine what the
passengers must have been thinking.

Gerald Sylvester
PPL 12/17/03