Easyjet PAX procedure in low visibility operations
 

Was yesterday on an Easyjet flight into ZHR and I have been witness to an unusual procedure.
There was some fog on the ground and the cabin crew announced that as it was to be a (daytime) "low visibility landing" all electronic equipment had to be turned off - no flight mode, no Kindle, all off. They then proceeded with a relative thorough cabin wide check to enforce this.
Once on the ground after what seemed a fairly routine landing (there was fog but visibility was not terrible - say 500 ft ?) they insisted that all that equipment should remain off until arrival to the gate, as the aircraft was to taxi "with electronic Navaid".

• Is this SOP (never witnessed it, probably 200 Easyjet flight over the past 3 years) ?
• Any details about ground taxi navigation aids ?!

They don't happen very often, although I had one just the other evening. It's procedure, you really don't tend to get crews making up their own SOP's such as that. Generally, you will find it happens whenever there is an auto land and I believe this is a CAA requirement here in the UK rather than something that is stipulated by individual carriers, though I may be wrong.

As for taxiing in, i'm not sure why that is procedure but it might well be something simple like keeping passengers strapped in rather than fumbling for electronic devices.

If posed correctly, I'm sure the crew would have been more than happy to answer any questions you may have.

I believe it is an EASA requirement that came into force when the switching off of devices throughout the flight was allowed. Whenever low vis is i encountered, both for take off and for landing, there is reliance on external nav aids and although it has never been conclusively proven, even the suspected risk of interference is to be avoided.

Doesn't the bit about taxiying to the gate refer to the use of automatic parking, that is, not using a human marshaller?

In the days before 9/11 I had the privilege of riding two approaches in 757s. The one that sticks with me was a day approach in lovely weather until we got to something like 500ft. We then descended into this lovely white cloud that got darker as we continued to descend. There was, essentially no visibility, nothing. Then just before touchdown some things on the ground began to form. Once the machinery had landed us there was visibility, but not much. Visibility is measured on the ground - it's the "Runway Visual Range". Visibility on the approach can be very different and the change during that final descent can be very sudden and it can get worse as well as better. My layman's view? I don't want to risk any interference with the autoland equipment so by all means ask me to turn off my phone etc. for 5 minutes.