Del Prado,
AFAIK, BA and Easy have broadly similar SOPs (should be stable at 1000', must be stable at 500') so why are BA 319s so much better at it than Easy?
EZY and BA have quite different SOPs but the concept of aiming to be stable by 1000ft and it being mandatory to be stable at 500ft is now virtually an industry standard.
As I wrote in my first post, it's the company's teaching. We start the reduction to V approach at 5dme. If there is a problem as far as ATC is concerned (I assume you are a controller at LGW) then perhaps you should let EZY know via the LGW Base Captain. He can then feed it to the Standards and Policy Captain and a change to the training may be made.
There is no difficulty with maintaining
precisely 160 kts to
exactly 4dme given benign weather; it is quite simply that EZY, given the low level of experience of some crews, wishes to have an extra margin in a few areas. Another example of this is the 180kts on base leg instruction from the Director. It is EZY policy not to fly below 'S' speed (Flap 1 speed, to the non-airbus people) without selecting the next stage of flap despite it being perfectly safe to do so. This often means that in order to fly 180 kts, flap 2 has to be selected which means extra drag which means more fuel burnt. Not economic. The upshot is that cost-conscious EZY pilots will fly 'S' speed on base leg and LOC intercept which will generally be anywhere between 180 and 190 kts depending on the aircraft's gross weight. Only if the aircraft is very light will 180kts be flown in flap1 configuration.
BA Airbus pilots (I used to be one until I hit 55) are probably better at it, if that is your perception, because they are used to LHR where shorthaul aircraft come down the slope 2.5 miles apart. Precise speed control is critical. The other thing to bear in mind is that there has been a huge amount of EZY training going on at LGW - pilots are sent there from other bases to do line training and there may be some EZY crews operating from day to day who are not LGW-based.
If you'd like to discuss it further, PM me.