ALPA: Pilots Need a Better Tool to Assess Runway Braking

The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) says that while it supports the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board's (NTSB's) recent recommendation to require an assessment of landing distance performance before every approach, based upon current runway conditions and the aircraft's braking ability, "an effective tool" is needed to do this.

The NTSB's "urgent" recommendation followed its announcement regarding the cause of the Southwest Airlines' B-737 runway overrun at Chicago's Midway Airport in December 2005.

"Pilots need to know the condition of runways in terms that mean the same thing to every pilot," said Captain Terry McVenes, ALPA's executive air safety chairman.  "Incredibly, we don't yet have a reliable and repeatable way to measure the condition of a runway, especially in dangerous circumstances such as standing water, slush, and wet snow."

Pilot braking action reports are subjective and vary from pilot to pilot and aircraft type to aircraft type.  In addition, descriptions of the runway contaminants - such as snow or slush - are also subjective and lack standard defined terminology.

Currently, manufacturers are required to provide landing performance data for only dry surfaces based on actual flight tests.  For other than dry surface conditions, performance data is derived mathematically. For those aircraft that have derived data, current regulations do not require this information to be provided to pilots. "We need performance data based on actual flight tests to know how our aircraft will stop in all runway conditions," says Mr. McVenes.

ALPA also argues that a RSA (runway safety area) should be established at the end on all landing runways to serve as a last line of defense to prevent catastrophe.  But ALPA complains that while the FAA is working to accomplish this end, some RSAs may still fail to meet federal standards. "Runway safety areas have proven their worth time and again and could have mitigated this event," Mr. McVenes said. "Unbelievably, many U.S. airports still fail to meet federal standards that require an adequate runway safety area."  10-14-2007.

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