B737 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 264; Flight Crew Total 12187; Flight Crew Type 2345
Situational Awareness
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
General None Reported / Taken
Procedure; Company Policy; Airport
I have some safety concerns flying in and out of SJO; Costa Rica. This airport is a special qual airport with terrain all around. It is a single runway operation airport. Jeppesen 19-02 page spells out a few cautions for this airport. Dispatchers do not plan an alternate normally unless weather dictates. They prefer Runway 07 for landing and Runway 25 for departure. The weather was VFR with clouds around the area and slight tailwind for Runway 07. Dispatcher planned for Runway 07 with no alternate; domestic reserve and ACF with little extra fuel. When we arrived at SJO; approach told us to expect VOR DME Runway 07; circle to land Runway 25 and assigned holding instructions over PARZA with an EFC of 15 minutes. ATIS reported 7-8 knots of tailwind for Runway 07. We were number 5 for the approach and they allow one aircraft at a time on approach pattern. I contacted the dispatcher and informed him asked about the suitable alternate and burn since we didn't really have too much of extra fuel. His response was LIR (MRLB) and burn was 2700 lbs. Approach extended the EFC 10 more minutes. We told them we can only hold 5 more minutes then we had to divert to LIR. That was going to get us to LIR with reserve fuel only (45 mins.) Then approach did let us start the approach and approach and landing was uneventful. Outbound flight Runway 07 was being used. ATC assigned us COCOS5 departure however we could not find the chart either on JEPP Pro or in the ship set. ACARS did not work at the gate due to interference. Dispatcher did not have the charts either and complained from the lack of resources. He managed to send us the takeoff data. Aircraft database did have all the departure charts in FMC unlike Jepp Pro and ship sets. We called the ATC and got the departure SID changed to POAS4. POAS4 has a turn back to TIO at TIO 4 DME and 5500 feet. Sabre take off data plans for reduced trust but even with MAX trust setting aircraft can't achieve the 5500 foot restriction. 10-7 page safety alert mentions that 5500 feet is not terrain critical but radius of turn is crucial. It also says 'advise tower that you'll be commencing turn at TIO 4 DME regardless of altitude. After departure; advise tower when passing 5500 feet'. My question is how does our company know that this departure is not terrain critical. Is there a terrain analysis done by the company? If achieving 5500 feet is not critical then why it is written as 'maintain runway heading with the maximum climb gradient possible to TIO 4 DME and 5500 feet then right turn to TIO VOR without exceeding TIO R-113'. Can SJO tower provide terrain or obstacle clearance during departure especially during low visibility or IMC conditions? Because Jeppesen page 19-02 for SJO says; 'Caution: ATC assigned altitudes or vectors may not provide adequate obstruction clearance'. Warning on the same page says; Due to high terrain in all quadrants; special care should be taken during all operations (approach; landing and departure). Are we violating any FARs or SOPs when we accept a departure clearance even though we know that we can't comply with it? Does company have an authorization to waive the requirements with a note on 10-7 page?
B737 Captain questioned his company procedures concerning the POAS4 departure from MROC. He also believed that performance calculations do not consider the climb requirements of this SID.