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This question asks for "advice on the best way" to fly into Palo Alto from the south. Should we answer questions like this?

On one hand, the question is clear and the scenario is fairly specific. It seems likely that we have community members who could give useful information, either from personal experience or by reviewing the charts, chart supplement etc. And many class Bravos do have specific procedures to follow, even for VFR flights.

On the other hand, the question is open-ended and it isn't obvious what the 'correct' answer would be. Do we want a potentially large number of questions about "I'm flying into airport XYZ from the north/south/east/west, what should I know first?".

Personally, this feels a little more like a discussion board question than a Q&A question. There are probably lots of personal experiences and comments that could be relevant and even helpful, but that's not the same as providing one good, correct answer. Having said that, I didn't feel strongly enough to downvote the question :-)

What do others think?

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Any advice on the best way to navigate KSJC and the SFO Bravo?

... is too generic and fails to be a good subjective question for the SE platform.

Great subjective questions insist that opinion be backed up with facts and references. Opinion isn't all bad, so long as it’s backed up with something other than "because I'm an expert", or "because I said so", or "just because". Use your specific experiences to back up your opinions, as above, or point to some research you've done on the web or elsewhere that provides evidence to support your claims. We like you. We want to believe you. But like Wikipedia itself, [citation needed]. And good subjective questions make this clear from the outset: back it up! [emphasis added]

My main issue – though likewise I don't feel strongly about it – is it fails to identify a specific problem the user has faced, or what they've tried but didn't work out.

It helps to think about it in terms of what the topic is. The more general "How do I navigate a Bravo airspace into a satellite airport?" or "How do I know I have all the required information for a Bravo transition?" are the relevant questions for the topic . Ideally those should be answered by referencing official guidelines.

If an actual problem was identified, say with a unique airspace, also those should be answered from regulations, e.g. 14 CFR § 93.339, not advice or personal preferences (forums are suited for those).


In short, a location-specific question is fine as long as a unique$^a$ problem was identified that can be answered factually.


$^a$: Unique to the location, otherwise it's a general question that can apply to most locations.

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