New landing distance calculations for Airbus

[alf5071h]

Generally agree with the views on SOPs above, but the use OLD isn’t directly about SOPs and safety culture.
The operational requirements (and thus SOP) for in-flight checking of landing performance already exist:- EU OPS 1.400, FAR 125.371/SAFO 06012.
A significant problem is the with method and accuracy in meeting these requirements – the degree which common sense was or could be applied, or knowing where ‘the amber’ is (#27).

Certification and operational requirements are based on landing weight (mass), but most operational problems, incidents, accidents, relate to landing distance. One safety report noted that pilots would land within 100 lb of the allowable max landing weight, but not within 100 ft of the landing distance. Thus new safety initiatives focus on the pilot’s perception of distance (or lack of it), and the provision of an improved source of advisory performance.

Similarly, the inability to “foresee and adapt to each and every situation, and they (SOPs) must be taken as absolutely mandatory” (#29) isn’t about the SOP’s, it’s about human behaviour. One aspect of using OLD aims to improve risk awareness by providing more realistic data and a perhaps new way of using it – distances vs wt. Pilots need the skills of interpretation and application, and operational flexibility based on the situations; but this assumes that the situation and the risks in the planned landing are understood.

OLD provides landing performance which is more representative of routine operations, enabling pilots to better judge the required landing distance and safety margin, and therefore the risk of an overrun should decrease.
The pre landing distance assessment (SOP) should get all crews to operate in a similar way; OLD can provide a better ‘dance floor’ on which to operate.