Historically, that's not the case for business aircraft operators. They fly to many more small airports and they may only visit those landing facilities once or twice per year. Navigation and terrain data for all airports used by business aircraft operators are not programmed into most flight simulators operated by the major Part 142 training services firms.
Business aircraft pilots can't rehearse landings and takeoffs at the myriad challenging airports to which they fly during simulator training as readily American, Copa, Delta, TACA and United Airlines pilots can practice operations at Tegucigalpa in the “box.”
Airline pilots who are qualified to fly into Tegucigalpa, among other challenging airports, also are likely to make several landings and takeoffs at such facilities several times per year. The operational frequency builds both the confidence and competence of flight crews. FOQA monitoring enables airlines' operations departments to adjust training or operational procedures to fine-tune pilot performance and effectively manage risk.
Business aircraft pilots, in contrast, usually don't have access to FOQA data for the types of aircraft they operate. The first fleet-wide OEM FOQA monitoring effort was undertaken by Eclipse Aviation prior to its November 2008 bankruptcy. Several safety adverse trends were identified by the Eclipse FOQA program, but insufficient data were collected to identify problems at specific airports. Now, FOQA programs are available for several other business aircraft, including models made by Bombardier, Dassault and Gulfstream.
But FOQA data are sparse for most general aviation airports. So, it's not easy for individual operators to use FOQA to identify risk trends and make corrections to technique or procedures.
However, the most conscientious business aircraft operators require their crews to debrief each mission, openly and thoroughly, so that lapses can be identified and corrections can be made. Such comprehensive post-mission critique sessions may not be comfortable for pilots with easily bruised egos, but they can be most valuable for improving airmanship and assuring compliance with SOPs. In time, debrief sessions also build crew camaraderie and boost CRM.
Debriefing sessions conducted after flights between airports that are frequently used by operators are effective tools for fine-tuning your flight operations. For airports that you don't often visit, they're still valuable tools. But crews still will lack the frequency of experience that builds proficiency and precision.
Your flight operation may not choose to add extra margins to approved AFM runway distances at all airports. But, if you're planning to operate occasionally from challenging airports, especially facilities in mountainous terrain or ones with short runways, then increasing the minimum required runway length can provide the critical buffer you need to keep out of harm's way should your aircraft run into trouble. BCA