Vmid a new call-out speed on TO and Landings
With the following:
- 747 TO crash in Halifax last year.
- Blue Grass Airport wrong runway TO.
- Runway overruns on landing.
- Other numerous accidents.
- Not much training in rejected TO for PPL and other ratings.
With V1, Vr, V2, etc.... I believe they should have mid-runway signs for which there should be a Vmid (mid field) call-out by the pilots so that when the pilot sees the mid-field sign and notices that his plane's speed is below Vmid then he can call it out and reject the TO.
Would probably have saved the Halifax 747, Blue Grass crash, and other accidents.
Put some signs on the side of the runway at mid-field and/or paint some very visible clearly labeled lines on the middle of the runway.
I believe there are some runways that have markers/signs every 1000 feet but these are not systematically used fully in TO and landing procedures.
Could also be very useful on landings to determine braking effectiveness and amount of pressure to apply to brake pedals.
It would be a great idea.
I wonder what past proposals and research work has been done on this.
Here is a crude example of what I mean with the large special marking in the middle (half white half black with a clear perimeter wrt runway color):
For the Kentucky accident the wrong runway mid-field speed was, I calculated, approximately 97 knots and therefore a Vmid here would have been (let's say) 120 knots.
At the mid-field mark the PNF would have said "Vmid 97 knots" and would have realized that the 120 knot target was not attained and would have called out for a rejected TO.
Similarly for a landing. If a plane's speed at the mid-field was above a target speed the pilot can immediately apply max braking pressure or, if he can, do a Go Around.