A human factors presentation at a recent safety conference suggest that the ‘Power Set’ call be modified to include the value of the thrust parameter, i.e “Power Set, 95%” or “Power Set, 1.66”, N1 / EPR value depending on engine type. The reason for this was that the call would improve the situation awareness of the pilot flying and provided a safety crosscheck that the correct setting for take off had been achieved i.e fewer ‘seeing what you expect’ mistakes. The addition of the ‘value’ call enhanced the crew’s picture of what was intended / expected, provided a quicker comparison with the pre take-off set up, and added to the crew’s experience level of what normal setting would be for the particular operation, thus aiding the crew’s diagnostic or comparative capability in future operations.
Do any operators already use a power set call that includes the value?
Mcdhu, and others, I don’t know about the Airbus operation, but there could be dangers in using other engine parameters to support the check of the take-off power setting. Noticing discrepancies of other engine parameters may add or detract from safety; e.g. do you have an SOP to call these deviations, if so what are the limits of the deviations, and what would the response be? The use of other parameters may aid a decision to reject, but they may also confuse the situation.
My understanding of the certification requirements are that the ‘performance’ thrust value must be checked before take off, and that providing it is within limits there should not be any noticeable deviation in the other engine parameters (limits required again). If there were deviations then the crew could (may) treat these as a lower (insignificant) risk with regard to a high speed abort. Thus use of the words ‘power set’ to indicate that the thrust levers are in the correct position is incorrect; the power set (+value) call should indicate that the required (certification) thrust value is within limits and that any creep remains within limits.
Again, do any operators have any SOPs on this issue?