Originally Posted by
Retired DC9 driver
I find it hard to believe that Gilles would think none of this was done
I don't think anything, except that report glosses over a number of important and highly relevant things which should have been spelled out.
Here is an example of what I mean:
The cabin crew then made a passenger announcement, which included instructing passengers to stow their carry-on baggage, put their seat backs upright, and fasten their seat belts. The cabin crew subsequently confirmed that these actions had been taken.
I find it hard to believe the cabin crew would not have done these actions which they do during every flight. Yet it is mentioned in the report. It does NOT leave the reader to
ASSUME they were done as they should have been.
Originally Posted by
Retired DC9 driver
For a flight in FPA guidance mode, Air Canada’s practice was that, once the aircraft was past the FAF, the flight crews were not required to monitor the aircraft’s altitude and distance from the threshold, nor to make any adjustments to the FPA.
Which is one of the many contradictions of the report, for in the same report one can read:
The following Air Canada documents are available to flight crew:
• The TC-approved Aircraft Operating Manual (AOM), which contains the SOPs, is based on information about the operational, technical, procedural, and performance characteristics of the aircraft in the Air Canada Flight Crew Operating Manual (FCOM).
Flight crews use the AOM for all aircraft operations.
• The FOM contains information that applies to all flight operations, except when superseded by an AOM.
• The Flight Crew Training Manual (FCTM) is designed as a reference document to provide pilots with practical information on how to operate the Airbus aircraft.
The Air Canada FCTM indicates that the flight crew should monitor the aircraft’s position along the vertical flight path while conducting a non-precision approach, by referring to the distance indicated on the distance measuring equipment, the altimeter reading, and the time.
And the report (not me) later quotes the same Air Canada FOM:
No flight shall continue an approach past the FAF Arrival Gate unless it is being flown in a way that ensures the Stable Approach Criteria will be met by the 500 foot Arrival Gate.
At the second gate (500 feet AGL or 100 feet above the MDA), no flight shall continue unless the following stable approach criteria are met:
• Flaps and landing gear are in the landing configuration; and
• Landing Checklist completed; and
• Indicated airspeed with plus 10 knots to −5 knots of target airspeed (Airbus-target airspeed is Ground Speed Mini when active); and
• Thrust stabilized, usually above idle, to maintain the target approach speed along the desired flight path; and
• Established on the correct vertical approach path and where applicable, remaining within ½ scale deflection of the guidance used for an
instrument approach or, for a visual approach, established on the correct approach slope as indicated by visual approach slope indicators (i.e.
VASIS [visual approach slope indicator system], PAPI or HGS [head-up guidance system]); and
• Rate of descent not in excess of 1000 fpm unless required to maintain the published constant descent path (e.g. glideslope, VASIS, calculated
descent rates, etc.). If an approach requires a rate of descent greater than 1000 fpm, a special briefing should be conducted; and
• Established on the correct lateral approach path and where applicable, remaining within ½ scale deflection of course deviation indications for
VOR [very high-frequency omnidirectional range], localizer approaches and five degrees of track for NDB [non-directional beacon] approaches.
How does one verify that one is on the correct vertical path by 500 AGL or 100' above the MDA when doing a a LOC approach ?