NDB approaches -- what are they good for?

Andrew Gideon writes:

Laugh It took me a while to figure out what you meant by this. My
mental picture of the process is sufficiently different from yours
that I'd no idea from where you were getting the number 45. It
finally dawned on me that you're flying a 45 degree intercept to the
inbound course.

Sorry -- I was assuming the standard, hockey-stick procedure turn, and
should have said that.

For this reason, why not a 30 degree intercept to a localizer? It
slows the needle.

Sure, that would work fine, and would have the advantage of giving me
a longer final. I use 45 only because I can read the headings
straight off the procedure-turn diagrams on the approach plates, so I
don't have to think too much. I love aviation-arithmetic problems
sitting here at my desk, but my head gets a little mushy in the plane
sometimes.


All the best,


David

--
David Megginson, , http://www.megginson.com/

(Michael) writes:

Look at how many pilots fly just fine for years without really
learning to use the rudder or make full stall landings.

Doesn't loss of control on the landing roll account for a
disproportionately large number of accidents, even for Cherokees and
Skyhawks?


All the best,


David

--
David Megginson, , http://www.megginson.com/

David Megginson wrote
Doesn't loss of control on the landing roll account for a
disproportionately large number of accidents, even for Cherokees and
Skyhawks?

Disproportionately large? I don't know about that. I know there are
VERY few fatal landing accidents.

Michael

"Dan Luke" c172rgATbellsouthDOTnet wrote
Yes. The taildragger also still has certain operational advantages

It does? The operational advantages have managed to elude me. I
suppose if you make the strip rough enough and the engine big
enough...

and nostalgic appeal.

There you go. That's really what keeps them alive.

But what does it hurt to keep taildraggers around as long
as people want to fly them?

And what does it hurt to keep NDB's around as long as people want to
fly them? We've solved the taildragger problem. It's obsolete
technology of marginal utility, but some people like them, so we
acknowledge that tailwheel flying demands some skills you don't
absolutely need in tri-gear flying (if you're willing to fly sloppy)
and have a special endorsement. I'm suggesting that the same solution
is appropriate for NDB's. I think that makes a lot more sense than
just shutting them down (since they cost next to nothing to operate)
and also makes a lot more sense than letting some CFII who never flew
an NDB approach in his life try and teach an instrument student how to
do it (which is exactly what happens at my home field).

I kept my ADF when I installed an approach GPS three years ago, but I
haven't used it except, rarely, for practice.

I use my ADF for practice a lot. My personal standard for multiengine
IFR proficiency is being able to fly a night circling single engine
partial panel full procedure NDB approach to a short obstructed
runway. Some people have told me I'm nuts, but I think it makes good
training. No, I would not do that in real life unless I absolutely
couldn't avoid it - but I think if more IFR pilots did it in training,
we would have fewer accidents in real life.

Michael

In article , David Megginson
writes:

Look at how many pilots fly just fine for years without really
learning to use the rudder or make full stall landings.

Doesn't loss of control on the landing roll account for a
disproportionately large number of accidents, even for Cherokees and
Skyhawks?

When learning to fly a sailplane in Tucson, the instructor commented that the
A10 pilots that came up from Davis Monthan AF thought that the rudder pedals
were welded to the floor. With a sailplane you sure get adverse yaw and need
rudder.

Chuck

(PaulaJay1) writes:

When learning to fly a sailplane in Tucson, the instructor commented
that the A10 pilots that came up from Davis Monthan AF thought that
the rudder pedals were welded to the floor. With a sailplane you
sure get adverse yaw and need rudder.

Even in a docile Cherokee or Skyhawk, you still need to use those
rudder pedals in the air during initial climbout and (especially)
during a crosswind landing.


All the best,


David

--
David Megginson, , http://www.megginson.com/