User Badges
User Actions
Friends
My Items
There are no Items to display.
My Upcoming Events
My Bookmarks
-
No saved bookmarks. Click on the Bookmark link throughout the community to add bookmarks
My Info
My Newsfeed
Hi Everyone,
Im from the UK.
I have a UK PPL/A and TT aprox 5,000, Night, IMC, Multi.
I have visited the US many many times, and did all my hour building here years ago.
Right, this is what I want to do: I/R, Commercial, CFI and ATP.
Q: Do I have to go to an approved flight school?
I'm going to Texas in July and want to get as much done as possible.
Thanks
I plan to talk to my CFI about this as well but curious if anyone here has suggestions. My home airport has two crossing runways. Each runway end is elevated above the surrounding terrain. On two approaches there's a road within 200 feet of the runway and on the other two a small river about 100-200 feet off the end of the runway.
What I'm noticing is that I have a tendency to come in high on my approaches and that's resulting in me having to flair pretty hard which in turn means I'm ... more
Energy management based on visual cues only can result in chasing the aircraft performance. Before coming up with a way to save and correct each approach, you'll need to first have the baseline settings required to achieve a specific aircraft performance for a stabilized approach. In order to establish some kind of measurable performance figures first, I would personally try the following with your CFI:
- At traffic pattern altitude, establish yourself on a predetermined airspeed, flaps + whatever the power setting it takes to maintain that airspeed and altitude on downwind-- no change of flaps on initial descent on downwind; if you change the flaps configuration on initial descent, you may lose track of the aircraft performance as 3 things are changing simultaneously, aerodynamics, pitch, and power.
- Abeam the predetermined fixed reference point (i.e. Runway threshold); try 60% power-- i.e.) if 2300RPM is the max RPM, 1400RPM; start your initial descent at 500fpm, trim, and note the airspeed.
- If it is a fixed pitch propeller aircraft, adjust the throttle to maintain this predetermined RPM. If it is a constant speed propeller aircraft, adjust the manifold pressure, as it will change without your input throughout the descent.
- Turn to your base leg at the standard 45 degree point as you maintain the power setting. Use 500fpm as a guideline but never at the expense of slow airspeed. Some airports with rising terrain around the runway will probably need a separate point at which you will turn to the base leg (i.e. altitude). It is at this point, you will have a good initial perception on your aircraft performance. With steady power and descent fpm, how are your speed and altitude looking relative to the runway (not the terrain around the runway)?
- During a stabilized approach, minor corrections are feasible when you are able to make 2 “trade-offs” in your aircraft's existing energy (speed and altitude). If you have to change 3 (speed, altitude, and power), it is a large correction, and your initial “glide” setup needs to be reconsidered:
- if it's too fast and too high, your initial RPM setting needs to be reduced the next time around; try 100RPM less, maintain that RPM, and still start with 500fpm.
- if it's too slow and low, your initial RPM setting needs to be increased the next time around; try 100RPM higher, maintain that RPM, and still start with 500fpm.
The key is to bring your approach profile to the point where you only have to make pitch change to an established steady power setting until just prior to the flare. During the final approach phase, you should be able to add frequent vertical scanning of obstacle (if it exists), aiming point, and the end of runway, on top of an already established scan during downwind and base leg.
