S/E Take Off/Approach procedures must be "flight Checked"
FAA denies approach approval because S/E procedure not approved??
The FAA recently denied a request for a special approach into a field where the required gradient for the miss was 8%. A S/E procedure was provided which cleared obstacles by the prescribed .8% required for Take Off. The S/E procedure is an overlay of the S/E procedure for Take off from the same runway.
Part of the problem was that the local FAA Office insisted on including in the application, that they wanted the S/E Procedure “flight checked.” A very experienced and reputable aeronautical engineering firm provided the obstacle analysis using DRAFT AC 120- OBS-1, which would fulfill all regulatory concerns and more.
What alarms me is that the FAA now appears to believe that S/E escape maneuver must now be “flight checked” to be allowed. Obviously this would impact Take Offs to a much greater extent because there is a considerably larger number of them and also there is a very clear regulatory requirement for them – not so evident with missed approaches.
I’d like to emphasis that this missed approach was applied for using all of the most stringent obstacle clearance criteria available.
If this is the FAA’s new policy – stand by – every S/E procedure Take Off & Approach – will need to be flight checked before they can be flown. I leave it to you imagination.
LOKE