EVS minima in Europe part 91
Steak&Kidney Pie;
EU OPS 1.450 guidance does not apply to Standard Category I operations; so, neither does its Appendix 1.
In my previous post, the example I gave was of a Standard Category I ILS approach. An RVR lower than the approach chart's minima does NOT suddenly make it a lower-than-Standard Category I operation. Certainly, if you don't have EVS, then you can't fly the approach and would therefore be required to conduct some other operation more suitable to landing in such conditions.
But, EVS changes everything. It provides an opportunity to meet the visibility requirement with a sensor, instead of eyeballs. And doing so does NOT change the type of operation being conducted.
Here in the US, we have no Table 9, and a Part 91 operator can fly a Standard Category I ILS approach when the RVR is zero. An RVR of zero does not make this approach a Category III ILS; but, it does make a landing highly unlikely.
I teach EVS, so I know how hard it is for pilots new to this technology to adopt the idea that EVS renders the RVR irrelevant with regard to flying the approach. RVR then becomes relevant only with regard to what the pilots might see with their eyeballs at the 100 ft DA.
An RVR less than 350 meters will make it impossible for a pilot to see a runway with his eyeballs when he reaches 100 ft above touchdown on a 3 degree glideslope. I am grateful that better logic prevails in Europe where the regulators created Table 9 to keep pilots from flying an approach with EVS when the RVR will certainly preclude a landing. I hope the FAA will one day adopt Table 9.