I thought most airlines had gates to meet on the approach. If you don't meet the gate then you do not proceed to the next phase and must do something to achieve that gate before you can proceed. The first gate would be 250kt at 9000ft at 30 nm.Airbus publish this in the fcom but in this case the flight was so far away from it that it beggars belief that they continued. If you are trying that hard to make an approach work then it probably will not work and you should only persevere if the aircraft is on fire.
I have noticed a certain misplaced arrogance from observing AF operations over the radio over the years and I would not fly with them by choice.What is more disturbing is that their head of safety who oversaw a numer of hull losses is now a big wheel in EASA.
Last edited by tubby linton; 22nd Jun 2013 at 19:52.