Precision/Non-precision Approaches.. Configuring in a single

Re: Precision/Non-precision Approaches.. Configuring in a si

Hell, I flew with guys who'd do 230+ to the marker in the jet, throw it to idle, gear, flaps, and barely make it to target speed in time.

I always got nervous for some reason..
 
Re: Precision/Non-precision Approaches.. Configuring in a si

Bob, I know you didn't advocate a red-line approach, I just (poorly I suppose) used a Vne approach as an extreme example to refute the logic to a "speed is life" theory. I personally fly approaches at 90 kts with 0-10 degrees of flaps in a C-172. In my book, Vref+15 (approx) is slow enough to be stable, which is what others suggested earlier in this thread that started the whole discussion of speed.

My only point is that using a "speed is life" theory should be evaluated against what gain you can actually get from it (small increase in your chance to make the field in the event of an engine failure) with the risks of doing so (increased chance of pilot error due to less than optimum approach). I guess I didn't state that very well.
 
Re: Precision/Non-precision Approaches.. Configuring in a si

I think it comes down to a risk assessment. What is more likely, that I will have an engine failure at a point on the approach where I am unable to glide to the field (and be forced to land elsewhere), or that by flying a non-stabilized approach I will prang the airplane? Knowing that my engine is very reliable (albeit somewhat less than 100% reliable) and that pilot error causes the majority of aircraft accidents, I opt to fly a stabilized approach near Vref, forfeiting the comfort of thinking that a higher speed gives me the ability to glide to the field (when it really doesn’t), and hope that I am prayed up in the event of a worst case scenario.
:yeahthat: I wish I could find the article, but I read that engine failures rarely occur at the end of a flight; and when they do fail during this phase, it is usually the result of fuel starvation/exhaustion. Engine failures are more common on takeoff and climb out, when the engines have been sitting cold, and are now asked to develop full power.
 
Re: Precision/Non-precision Approaches.. Configuring in a si

My only point is that using a "speed is life" theory should be evaluated against what gain you can actually get from it (small increase in your chance to make the field in the event of an engine failure) with the risks of doing so (increased chance of pilot error due to less than optimum approach). I guess I didn't state that very well.

I agree with your point of view. As I've stated before, accident statistics show that a pilot, through his own poor judgment or airmanship, is a bigger danger to himself than anything external. When possible, approaches should be flown in such a manner to optimize the pilot's performance in preference to other considerations.

This is to the GA crowd of course; we don't have the intense and regular training that the airlines provide and we should be careful about adopting their practices.
 
Re: Precision/Non-precision Approaches.. Configuring in a si

Hell, I flew with guys who'd do 230+ to the marker in the jet, throw it to idle, gear, flaps, and barely make it to target speed in time.

I always got nervous for some reason..
230?
Were they having an off day or something?
 
Re: Precision/Non-precision Approaches.. Configuring in a si

In the USAF, I have been taught since day one to be in the landing configuration, stabilized, and on-speed at the FAF.
 
Re: Precision/Non-precision Approaches.. Configuring in a si

Hell, I flew with guys who'd do 230+ to the marker in the jet, throw it to idle, gear, flaps, and barely make it to target speed in time.

I always got nervous for some reason..

I was gonna say, you can do 250 to the marker in the XR easy and still be configured and stabilized by 1000.
 
Re: Precision/Non-precision Approaches.. Configuring in a si

Are you going to add anything or what? 'Cause you're being fairly useless right now.

Guess I hit a nerve, go me! :nana2:

Apparently you practice selective reading too.
 
Re: Precision/Non-precision Approaches.. Configuring in a si

:yeahthat: I wish I could find the article, but I read that engine failures rarely occur at the end of a flight; and when they do fail during this phase, it is usually the result of fuel starvation/exhaustion. Engine failures are more common on takeoff and climb out, when the engines have been sitting cold, and are now asked to develop full power.
and they are pretty rare even on takeoff and climb out. Personally, I gave up buying the "you have to fly today as though it's 1925 when airplane engines failed all the time" theory of "making the runway" a long time ago.
 
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