Today was a big event for aviation fans where I live (Warsaw, Poland, EPWA). We have had a visit of Antonov 225 (Mriya).
Today, but also as I saw in other videos, it often (always?) performs a low-pass first and only then lands. Why is that? I bet this is about safety, but...
- is it mandated by some official rules?
- or by some internal rules of the operating airline?
What kind of information does the pilot need which they wouldn't get by reading the maps, diagrams or by talking to ATC?