The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), citing a 2017 event at San Francisco International Airport (SFO), is cautioning flight crews and operators about risks associated with transposing runway numbers during data entry.
In Safety Alert for Operators (SAFO) 18009, issued earlier this month, the FAA described the San Francisco event, in which takeoff performance system (TPS) data provided for an airliner by the air carrier included information for Runway 10L. The actual departure, however, was to be conducted from Runway 01L.
The transposed runway numbers “resulted in an actual takeoff runway length (for 01L) that was 4,220 feet less than what was calculated by the TPS (for 10L),” the SAFO said.
Data provided for Runway 10L included settings intended for longer runways, and with those settings, the airplane was rotated at standard speed and took off with 400 ft of usable takeoff distance remaining, the SAFO said.
“The flight crew realized the safety i…
