By Rob Finfrock

Highlighting operational safety, and the importance of proper responses in both normal situations and in times of emergency, were dominant themes throughout CJP2015 as attendees participated in a variety of safety-focused discussions highly relevant to Citation operators.

These sessions began Thursday afternoon with an informative presentation by Dann Runik, executive director for advanced training at FlightSafety and captain on the Boeing 747-400 for Delta Air Lines, examining the “go/no go” decision and the potential dangers of high-speed rejected takeoffs.

Among the thought-provoking points raised by Runik was the mindset that pilots should abort their takeoff for any crew alerting system (CAS) messages at or above V1. Runik pointed to the conditions that trigger CAS alerts in the Citation Mustang.

“It’s a fair question: if you’re going to abort for those things, what are those things?” he explained. “We found a total of 43 red or amber items that will push through the takeoff inhibit (TOPI) system [on the Mustang],” he said. “We often say we’ll abort for any red CAS, a red light, or any unsafe CAS message… [But] let’s look at them differently to see if all of them should lead to an abort.”

Runik identified several potential exceptions to the rule when they occur at V1, including loss of both generators. “Is the plane still flying with both engines still running? Sure!” he said. “And here’s one I found very interesting: ANTI-SKID FAIL. What is your accelerate-stop distance required based on [during an aborted takeoff]? Operational anti-skid!”

Next, GAMA safety, security and operations director Jens Hennig provided an update on efforts to equip the general aviation aircraft fleet with ADS-B, including a particularly sobering statistic: just a bit more than six percent of the Citation fleet is currently equipped to comply with the FAA’s January 1, 2020 equipage mandate.

“That means 94 percent of Citation owners will be looking to drop their planes at Citation Service Centers and other facilities for a couple of weeks in the next 51 months,” he added. “For not the last time I’ll say this, have you looked at what you’ll need to do to equip?” Hennig also provided a list of approved ADS-B solutions available throughout the Citation fleet.

ProFlight instructor and Part 135 Compliance Manager Chuck Hosmer led an eye-opening discussion about the need for operators to establish safe and stabilized approaches to landing. “In our Citations, we’ve never had someone land low and slow, [but] we’ve had several cases where people have landed high and fast.”

To drive this point home, Hosmer cited a fatal Air India Express B737 accident that occurred when the crew attempted to land despite a clearly non-stabilized and high approach. “They were held to 37,000′ until 77 miles from the airport,” he said. “At 50 miles out they were down to 29,000′, and at 25 miles 18,000 feet. A big clue that the crew knew things weren’t going well is that the captain dropped the gear at 8,500’… to land at an airport at 300 feet [MSL].”

Because they were high, the crew caught “a false glideslope [beam]” at nine degrees of pitch, instead of the proper three degrees. “If you come in high, you’ll catch it from the top,” Hosmer continued. “This is why we cross the outer marker at a fixed altitude … They were screaming down, full flaps, speed back where they wanted, except they’re flying a nine-degree approach [at] 4,000 feet per minute … The crew touched down with just 2,800 feet of runway remaining.”

Only eight passengers out of the 166 persons onboard survived the result of those decisions.