Procedures for off-nominal cases: Very closely spaced parallel runway operations

This study investigated procedures to increase capacity in the terminal area using a high-fidelity flight deck simulator. The concept was developed to achieve visual meteorological condition capacities under instrument meteorological conditions when landing aircraft on runways 750 ft apart. The purpose was to investigate procedures related to breakout maneuvers on final approach during off-nominal conditions. Fifty percent of the simulation runs had an off-nominal situation. The off-nominal situation was either the wake of the lead aircraft drifting too close to the trailing aircraft or the lead aircraft deviating from its course and blundering towards the trailing aircraft. The location of the off-nominal situation was also a variable. Results showed that the workload and situational demands experienced by pilots were higher in the off-nominal as compared to the normal scenario. Pilots executed a breakout maneuver earlier for wake intrusion than for aircraft deviation. The location and cause of the off-nominal situation did not have a significant impact on workload or situation awareness. In general, the pilots flew the breakout maneuver accurately and safely. The results provide an assessment of the procedures for breakout maneuvers during off-nominal conditions.