PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - MDA
Thread: MDA
View Single Post
Old 13th December 2010 | 17:16
  #21 (permalink)  
bookworm
 
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,648
Likes: 2
From: UK
My understanding is that the idea behind CD NPA is to try and make the execution of these as similar as possible to an ILS.
The flaw is that it pretends a little too much that the non-precision approach is an ILS , i.e. a precision approach.

If the onboard equipment (e.g. BaroVNAV) allows you to fly to a point in space with high vertical and horizontal precision, then you might as well treat it like a precision approach. And because you dip (because you're treating it like a DH) below the MDH/OCH at that precise point, where there are no obstacles, there's little risk of hitting something even if you're in still cloud.

But if you're using raw data, selecting a rate of descent with mile-spaced DME crosschecks or worse, there's a significant variability in the distance from the runway at which you hit the MDH/OCH, and your dip of 50 ft eats directly into the margin above obstacles on the approach. I would love to see the risk assessment that demonstrates that dipping 50 ft below the OCH in these circumstances is within tolerable risk.

The progression towards CDFA for high-inertia, multicrew commercial air transport with appropriate avionics is clearly a step forward in safety. But the one-size-fits-all attitude of EU-OPS is not.
bookworm is offline  
Reply