Evaluation of Boeing 747-400 Performance During ATC-Directed Breakouts on Final Approach

This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the Department of Transportation in the interest of information exchange. The United States Government assumes no liability for its contents or use thereof. The effects of three different levels ofpilot training on the breakout response ofpilots and the Boeing 747-400 aircraft were studied. The study examined responses during ATC-directed breakouts on final approach and was conducted in three phases. Phase 1 tested performance during manual and autopilot-coupled approaches given current procedures and pilot training. Phase 2 tested the effect of increased pilot situational awareness and proposed ATC breakout phraseology on breakouts during manual and autopilot-coupled approaches. Phase 3 tested the effect of two B747-400-specific breakout procedures on breakouts during autopilot-coupled approaches. Pilot preferences regarding procedures and the tested training materials were also solicited. Two Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) programs were initiated in 1987 with the purpose of developing new procedures to increase airport capacity during instrument meteorological conditions (!MC) to levels near visual meteorological condition (VMC) capacity while maintaining existing safety levels. The Precision Runway Monitor (PRM) Program concluded in 1991 with the recommendation to allow dual simultaneous instrument landing system (ILS) approaches to parallel runways spaced 3400 to 4300 feet apart, given certain equipment and operational requirements. The Multiple Parallel Approach Procedure (MPAP) Program has developed and tested new procedures for dual, triple and quadruple parallel ILS approached in IMC. Both programs utilized simulations of worst-case blunders on final approach to assess the relative safety of the tested procedures. A blunder occurs when an aircraft on fInal approach deviates towards an aircraft on the adjacent approach course and that deviation is large enough to require Air Traffic Control (ATC) intervention. A worst-case blunder is one in which the deviating aircraft does not return to its own approach course and continues into the adjacent approach stream. Any potentially threatened aircraft are broken out of the adjacent approach stream by ATC in response to the blunder. This action is called an ATC-directed breakout. Three aircraft performance studies were conducted during the PRM Program, and the threatened aircraft tracks were incorporated into a risk assessment model. These studies used Boeing 727 (B727) and McDonnell Douglas 10 (DCW) full-motion cockpit simulators and type-rated pilots to test threatened aircraft/air crew breakout response. The risk analysis concluded that if the distribution of threatened aircraft responses was based on increased pilot situational awareness rather than on the existing …