Beer Baron
Some people need to get off their high(heavy) horse.
That includes you too. I suggest you sit down, take a Bex and reread carefully what ACMS, SWH and I have said. We are more than prepared to accept 16L/34R when we consider it safe to do so. It doesn't take much though to make this runway marginal at the weights we operate at our A330's. As I stated earlier I operated in to Sydney just the other day. ATIS indicated a damp runway with up to 3kts of tailwind on the duty runways 34L&R. At our expected landing weight this gave me 30m spare with medium auto brake. We advised centre just prior to the issue of our clearance that we "required" 34L. There was no issue from centre and we were thanked for advising them early. Well as it turned out as we crossed the threshold for 34L we were carrying 12kts of tailwind. If we had landed on 34R we would have needed 100m more bitumen than was available with "max manual" brakes. So if I "require" the longer runway I'll make it known. Likewise if I decide to "request" the longer runway for any other reason other than safety, I'll weigh up any conditions ATC may impose and if they reject my request I'll accept it.