B737 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Flight Crew Total 15520
Confusion
No Specific Anomaly Occurred All Types
General None Reported / Taken
Chart Or Publication
KSFO QUIET; SHORELINE; and REBAS departures from runways 28L/RTwo engines:The notes at the bottom of the SFO 10-7C page and the notes on the SIDs themselves say: When doing these three specific departures off of 28L/R; start your turn no later than the end of the runway; use a 25 degree bank angle; don't accelerate until after the turn is complete; and use the NADP-1 profile. This all makes sense; as you obviously don't want to hit the mountain.However; unless the jet is light or especially if you do a flaps 1 takeoff with higher v-speeds; you might not be at 400 feet by the end if the runway. This means you must engage heading select on the ground because you won't be able to engage it in the air until 400 feet; which is too late to start the turn. The FM says that for procedures requiring turns below 400 feet; there will be a weather minimum of at least 300 and 1. These three SIDs used to have a weather minimum published on the charts that was much higher than 300 and 1. It essentially said that you had to be able to see the mountain in order to fly these SIDs. But this weather minimum is no longer published.So the first question is: What happened to the published weather minimum for these SIDs? Since they require a turn below 400 feet; they should have one.One engine:The engine failure procedure for 28L/R after starting the first turn says to continue the turn to a 030 heading; at a 25 degree bank angle; with an acceleration altitude of 800 Above Field Elevation (AFE). This raises several questions.How are you supposed to execute this maneuver at 25 degrees of bank if you're below V2+15 single engine? The Flight Manual says 'limit bank angle to 15 degrees until V2+15'. I realize that if the engine quits after you start the turn; you might be at V2+20 already because you were operating on two engines until that point - but this is not a guarantee if the engine quits early in the turn and shortly after leaving the runway.Additionally; this engine failure procedure used to have the same acceleration restriction that I discussed above: don't accelerate until you have completed the turn. And again; this was obviously designed so you wouldn't hit the mountain. But this acceleration restriction has been removed from the engine failure procedure.So if the engine quits; you abandon the SID (and with it the guidance not to accelerate) and follow the engine failure procedure. It tells you to turn at 25 degrees of bank (which you may not be able to do); and it tells you to accelerate at the normal altitude of 800 AFE. This could drive you straight into the mountain.The engine failure procedure should have the same acceleration restriction as the SID (don't accelerate until the turn is completed); or it should have a higher acceleration altitude (like you would have on two engines flying the NADP-1 procedure). So why doesn't it have one of these restrictions? As currently written; I think this engine failure procedure is an accident waiting to happen.
B737 Captain reported having some concerns for the wording of SFO QUIET; SHORELINE; and REBAS departures as; in his opinion; terrain clearance could become an issue.