Approach speeds for ILS

"John R Weiss" wrote in message
news:mYlPb.109959$xy6.321478@attbi_s02...
|
| 1) If the field is really at minimums, you have 200 feet to slow down to
| landing speed. That is not much time. Better you should be ready to land
| before you break out.
|
| Nope -- not unless you are flying a Cat III certified airplane.
|
| You should be ready to transition to land AFTER you break out! A C172 at
90
| knots is only descending at 400-500 FPM. At 200' AGL, you have 20-30
seconds
| until touchdown, even if you don't flare at all! You can do a lot of
| decelerating, reconfiguring, and flaring in 20 seconds. Since the only
| reconfiguring you should have to do, if any, is final flaps, you have
plenty of
| time!

Well, one would think so, and I don't have any problem with it, but I sure
see a lot of pilots that just can't seem to handle it. But I am a CFII who
flies and demonstrates these approaches constantly. I think my point is that
pilots who do not fly as frequently should consider a different 'approach,'
so to speak.

AARP encourages older drivers to take things a little slower -- to drive
within their skill level. Perhaps rusty pilots should do the same.

"C J Campbell" wrote...

Well, one would think so, and I don't have any problem with it, but I sure
see a lot of pilots that just can't seem to handle it. But I am a CFII who
flies and demonstrates these approaches constantly. I think my point is that
pilots who do not fly as frequently should consider a different 'approach,'
so to speak.

Again, I disagree.

Pilots who don't fly as frequently should use the time they DO get to practice
their skills, lest they be lost. An instrument rated pilot should NOT go out
and fly when the weather is near minimums, just to avoid going non-current! He
should, instead, get out and practice those approaches -- including the
transitions -- every couple weeks. If he can't do that, some instrument time
with his favorite CFII should precede any attempt to go out in the real weather,
and that CFII should ensure he CAN handle it before signing off any currency
check.

Flying an ILS at 60 knots instead of 90 puts the airplane much closer to stall,
giving much less margin of error if the pilot gets distracted or fixated. The
transition to visual is part of EVERY (Cat III excluded) actual approach that
results in a landing, so that transition should be practiced as much as flying
the needles.