ACR ON APCH ISSUED BRAKING ACTION POOR. PLANS ACCORDINGLY AND LNDG EXCELLENT. MANY QUESTIONS ON GND FREQ BY ARPT MGR ARE DISTRACTING.
Synopsis
ACR ON APCH ISSUED BRAKING ACTION POOR. PLANS ACCORDINGLY AND LNDG EXCELLENT. MANY QUESTIONS ON GND FREQ BY ARPT MGR ARE DISTRACTING.
Narrative
WE DEPARTED IND FOR STL AND ENRTE WAS GIVEN HOLDING ABOUT 65 MI FROM STL FOR ABOUT 25 MINS. STL WAS EXPERIENCING SNOW AND STRONG WINDS FROM THE N AND NW WITH VARYING CEILINGS AND VISIBILITIES. WE WERE CLRED OUT OF HOLDING AND PUT IN SEQUENCE FOR LNDG. ABOUT 30 MI FROM THE FIELD WE WERE GIVEN DELAYING VECTORS BECAUSE OF AN INCIDENT ON THE RWY. WE LATER FOUND OUT THAT AN MD80 HAD APPARENTLY ABORTED A TKOF AND HAD SLID SIDEWAYS ON RWY 30L. THERE WERE NO PROBS OTHER THAN THE PLANE WAS ON THE RWY AND IT WOULD TAKE SOME TIME TO TOW THE PLANE FROM THE RWY AND RWY 30L WOULD BE CLOSED UNTIL THIS COULD BE ACCOMPLISHED. IN THE MEANTIME; STL RWY GND CREWS WERE CLRING AND SANDING RWY 30R. WE WERE NEVER ACTUALLY IN ANOTHER HOLDING PATTERN BECAUSE STL OPENED RWY 30R FAIRLY QUICKLY AND WE BASICALLY WERE JUST VECTORED BACK TO A DOWNWIND FOR AN APCH. WE WERE #2 ON THE APCH BEHIND AN ACR FLT. WE GOT SEVERAL WIND READINGS FROM THE TWR. IT CHANGED TO 360 DEGS 20 KTS WITH NO GUSTS AND I BELIEVE ANOTHER AT 350 DEGS AT 20 KTS. THE TWR ALSO HAD ADVISED THAT RWY 30R HAD 1/4 INCH PACKED SNOW; HAD BEEN SANDED AND A BRAKING ACTION RPT OF 'POOR' BY AN ARPT VEHICLE. WE WERE CONCERNED WITH THE XWIND COMPONENT BECAUSE OUR COMPANY HAS A STEADY XWIND COMPONENT LIMIT OF 10 KTS WITH A BRAKING ACTION RPT OF 'POOR.' WE ELECTED TO CONTINUE THE APCH BECAUSE THE WIND TREND APPEARED TO BE A LITTLE MORE NW AND PERHAPS A LITTLE LESS VELOCITY. WE CONTINUED OUR APCH AND STARTED RELYING ON OUR INERTIAL REF SYS FOR WIND INFO. THE IRS GIVES US THE MOST UP TO DATE WIND AND IS INSTANTANEOUS AND WOULD BE BETTER THAN ANY FURTHER WIND CHKS FROM THE TWR. THE FO AND I WERE BOTH IN AGREEMENT THAT IF THE XWIND COMPONENT WAS NOT WITHIN 10 KTS AT THE DECISION HT; THAT WE WOULD MISS THE APCH AND PROCEED TO THE ALTERNATE. THE FO CALLS; 'MINIMUMS' AT DECISION HT AND IF THE CAPT HAS NOT CALLED 'LNDG' AT THIS POINT THE FO AUTOMATICALLY MAKES A MISSED APCH. I WENT OUTSIDE AND HAD THE RWY IN SIGHT. WE WERE LINED UP WITH THE CTRLINE OF THE RWY AND I JUDGED BY THE ANGLE OF THE NOSE THAT WE WERE WITHIN THE 10 KTS XWIND LIMIT. I CALLED 'LNDG' AND PROCEEDED TO LAND ON RWY 30R. THE LNDG WAS RIGHT ON CTRLINE AND AT THE 1000 FT POINT. AFTER THE NOSEWHEEL WAS ON THE GND I APPLIED THE REVERSE THRUST SLOWLY; MAKING SURE THERE WAS NO ADVERSE YAW ASSOCIATED WITH ITS APPLICATION. I STARTED REDUCING THE REVERSE THRUST AT 80 KTS AND APPLIED LIGHT BRAKING AT ABOUT 60 KTS. I GOT SOME RELEASES ON THE ANTI-SKID SYS AND WOULD AGREE THAT THE BRAKING WAS 'POOR.' THE TWR ASKED IF WE COULD TURN OFF AT TXWY G. WE SAID THAT WE COULD AND WE MADE THE TURN OFF THE RWY EASILY. WE HAD A VERY SLOW TAXI SPD AT THIS POINT ANTICIPATING THAT THE TXWY HAD NOT BEEN CLEANED. I BELIEVE THAT THE TWR WANTED US TO MAKE THAT TURN BECAUSE THE NEXT TXWY WOULD HAVE PUT US IN A POS OF CONFLICT WITH THE DISABLED ACFT ON THE OTHER RWY. THE TWR INSTRUCTED US TO CONTACT GND CTL. THE GND CTLR ASKED US FOR A BRAKING RPT. THE FO RPTED THAT IT WAS 'POOR.' THE ARPT MGR ALSO GOT ON THE FREQ AND WAS ASKING QUESTIONS ABOUT BRAKING ACTION AND THE CTL INPUTS. I THOUGHT THAT THE ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS BY THE ARPT MGR WERE SOMEWHAT DISTRACTING. I THINK THE INFO REQUIRED COULD HAVE BEEN GOTTEN MORE EFFICIENTLY BY THE GND CTLR. I DO APPRECIATE THE ARPT MGR'S DESIRE AND NEED FOR IMMEDIATE INFO IN ORDER TO MAKE A DECISION CONCERNING KEEPING THE ARPT OPEN OR NOT. I BELIEVE THE ARPT MGR DECIDED TO CLOSE THE ARPT WHILE WE WERE TAXIING TO THE GATE. WE TAXIED TO THE GATE WITHOUT FURTHER INCIDENT.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.