A major limitation of high-tech solutions (#212, 213) and humans is that they do not know the exact conditions on the runway.
The Smart Runway / Smart Landing systems provide alerting for an unstable approach and the potential for a long landing; the alerts should enable the crew to fly a go-around.
Although the Airbus system allows the crew to select braking parameters corresponding to the reported runway condition, once on the runway the system cannot achieve any greater maximum deceleration than could the crew. Thus if the runway condition is not as expected, then the calculated landing performance may not be met. In extreme, the system would not be able to prevent an overrun. Also, the crew’s realization of poor conditions could be too late to allow a go-around.
The other warnings (ROW/ROP) appear to be similar to the Honeywell systems, and have the ominous note that pilots can override (ignore) alerting information.
Part of the solution for reducing the risks of an overrun is to provide crews with better descriptions of runway braking conditions, but this is a complex and difficult task, which IMHO is unlikely to be solved in the immediate future.
A more significant item is to provide crews with better guidance of how to implement the regulations, interpret the calculated landing performance, and how to judge the many variables which provide a margin of safety during approach and landing – what do these things mean and ‘how’ should they be used in the decision to land, i.e. how do we teach ‘experience’, how do we manage risk.
In situations like Jamaica and Toronto, pilots often over focus on the immediate tactical decision associated with Cbs – airborne problems; avoiding turbulence, windshear, lightning etc.
Crews should consider more aspects of the ground phase of the approach and landing – have a strategic plan; e.g. what is the effect of heavy rain on the runway, how quickly does it drain, physical runway state, RESA, likely wind shifts, and any other aspects affecting landing performance safety margins.
A simple rule of thumb could be to delay landing for 15 min after a red WXR area has cleared the runway; this provides a reasonable time to the surface to drain. However even this rule may require modification for particular airports or specific weather conditions, e.g. runway slope / crosswind damming water drains, or ‘dished’ concrete surfaces.