Denti: Thank you for your input and I apologise for any short-sightedness.
To others, many thanks for your contributions. I see there are those who engage A/P at 1000' agl and those who wait until Flaps Up. It seems that the difference is the whim of the Chief Pilot and company SOP's. OK; so we have a difference and neither is the Boeing design criteria.
My question still stands. Can anyone provide a technical reason why the Boeing design standard is not applied? I understand that those who operate a mix fleet of classics & NG's chose the lowest common denominator of
1000'. Fine. Why is the UKCAA cerification 1000' and the FAA 400'? Why, if the NG is 400' do those operators choose Flaps up? What is the technical reason?
I once flew for an operator who cleaned up at 1000' on a V1 cut, SE G/A & 2 engine G/A. Keep it simple and all the same. Seemed like a good idea. It is above Boeing minima. Then I flew for an operator who cleaned up at 1000' on a V1 cut & SE G/A but 400' on a 2 engine G/A because it was standard Boeing, but still waited until Flaps Up to engage A/P. You understand my wondering at people's thinking? They use some of standard Boeing Ops but not others in the same manoeuvre.
Why do we operate the a/c down to Boeing minima on landing close to the ground ( the rock hard place) but some choose to make their own minima when climbing away from the rock hard place? It beats me! How many people get an instruction manual for a micro-wave and then choose to do it differently?
Last edited by RAT 5; 7th December 2007 at 22:59.