Originally Posted by
Pilot DAR
Bear in mind that the basis of this rule, in addition to harmony of traffic flow at civil airports, is more to the pilot's interest, reduction of the risk of damage from a bird strike. Large civil aircraft must demonstrate withstanding an 8 pound bird at Vc, but that does not suggest no damage, and the faster speed greatly increases the intensity of damage.
I thought the CARs were dealing with traffic flow and separation here - are you saying that the Feds regulate speed to avoid bird strikes? I thought that sort of decision rested with the pilot in command, as with avoiding turbulence, icing, fuel starvation etc.. Just as we have road speed limits in urban areas it is understandable that airport traffic patterns ought to also but delaying the extension of high lift/drag devices is equally understandable. Fortunately the application of this rule allows you to keep it clean as long as possible. In 20K hours at the job I never found it to be a problem.