Good Posts..
I think we can all agree that taking off from a 5000 ft field in a 737, balanced field is 5000 ft...20000 hour trend monitored engines, burning lake of lava at the end.... Is a little different then a Citation on a 12000 ft field, balanced field is 3000 ft, Iowa cornfields for miles., and new engines with 100 hours on them....
The later shows that the pilot has more discretion because he has more time, more options...To purposely take away those options by choosing a shorter runway, using Flex, adding weight...adds risk...I didn't say dangerous, I said risk...
I beleive that 'Pilot Discretion' is a problem for many in here...they want the pilot to have the numbers, the facts...not just look at the airspeed and runway remaining and make a call..the more they keep him from making a decision and just going to the checklist, they feel the flight will be less prone to a screwup.....I can understand that...
But stories abound of pilots that made quick descisions that saved lives that weren't on the checklist or calculated ahead of time, and we have seen the opposite as well...if anyone in here can brief for all possible scenarios, my hat's off to you...
History judges hard the ignorant...and luck favors the prepared...
Seems we are always finding a way to crash a plane who's problem wasn't on the checklist or the checklist was wrong when you encountered it...but we move forward by the ensuing discussion and learn from our mistakes...
Personaly discussing these scenarios and hashing them out ahead of time, looking at all the angles is better then waiting for another accident then trying to figure out what went wrong and adding another line on the checklist.
I have commented sadly to students, that someone had to die for every line on a checklist...and the checklists keep getting longer.....
They get longer because many times we encounter some form of ignorance, something that everyone overlooked, or outmoded concepts and training that needed to change... but again, a plane had to crash to uncover that hidden truth.
I feel these forums are a better way to uncover that truth....