Premium On Safety - Issue 16, 2015 - 3

Runway Safety
The FAA recently released Advisory Circular
(AC) 91-79A: Mitigating the Risks of a
Runway Overrun Upon Landing (www.faa.
gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_
Circular/AC_91-79A.pdf) to provide operators means to identify, understand, and mitigate risks associated with runway overruns
during the landing phase of flight, including
information on developing company stan-

dard operating procedures (SOP) to mitigate
those risks.
The FAA's Safety Alert for Operators
(SAFO) 06012: Landing Performance
Assessments at Time of Arrival (http://
www.faa.gov/other_visit/aviation_industry/airline_operators/airline_safety/safo/
all_safos/media/2006/safo06012.pdf)
applies to turbojet operators under FAR

parts 121, 135, 125, and 91 subpart K. It
assists operators in developing methods
to ensure that sufficient landing distance
exists to safely make a full stop landing with
an acceptable safety margin on the runway
to be used, in the conditions existing at the
time of arrival, and with the deceleration
means and airplane configuration that will
be used.

BEST PRACTICES

Can We (Still) Land There?
By LEE SmITH

Conducting the TOA analysis close to the top-of-descent will
give the crew up-to-date performance data and time to consider
alternate plans, while minimally impacting crew workload.
Basic flight planning requires that the
expected landing distance at the time of
arrival be within the capabilities of the aircraft in order for the flight to be conducted.
We can't see into the future, so flight planning is by nature a prospective task. The
preflight planning required by FAR 91.103
must make assumptions about the expected
route, weather, runway conditions, and any
other factors that could affect aircraft performance based on the best available information at the time of departure.
Flight planning would be made a
whole lot simpler if conditions remained

unchanged for the duration of a flight.
Unfortunately, that's not the case. Actual
conditions at the time of arrival often differ
from the assumptions made during planning. Therefore, flight crews must be able
to ensure that aircraft landing performance
is acceptable based on the conditions that
actually exist at their time of arrival, rather
than just assume that the conditions that
existed at takeoff still apply.
For instance, if the reported braking
action was reported as "good" at dispatch
but is "fair" upon arrival, will your aircraft
performance still be acceptable? What if

you received an unexpected shortcut while
en route and are arriving heavier than
planned? Will the landing distance still be
acceptable at the time of arrival even with
the increased weight?
This type of time-of-arrival (TOA) analysis
has become an area of increasing interest at the FAA following the Southwest
Airlines 737 overrun at Burbank, California,
in 2000 and the American Airlines 737
overrun in Jamaica in 2009. Operators
are encouraged to establish a standard
process to do a near time-of-arrival landing
performance validation with actual weight,
reported weather, and actual runway conditions and incorporate it into their safety
management system (SMS). This should
also take into account other factors such
as runway slope, tailwind component, gust
factor, etc., and a margin for safety.
Pilots must therefore have the tools to
quickly make this determination as near as
practical to the time of arrival. Conducting
the TOA analysis close to the top-of-descent
will give the crew up-to-date performance
data and time to consider alternate plans,
while minimally impacting crew workload.
Additional information on this topic can be
found in FAA SAFO 06012 and AC 91-79A
(see "Runway Safety" sidebar).
Lee Smith is an ATP and CFII rated pilot
with a background in corporate and Part
135 operations.
3

http://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_Circular/AC_91-79A.pdf http://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_Circular/AC_91-79A.pdf http://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_Circular/AC_91-79A.pdf http://www.faa.gov/other_visit/aviation_industry/airline_operators/airline_safety/safo/all_safos/media/2006/safo06012.pdf http://www.faa.gov/other_visit/aviation_industry/airline_operators/airline_safety/safo/all_safos/media/2006/safo06012.pdf

Premium On Safety - Issue 16, 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Premium On Safety - Issue 16, 2015