How do you plan the descent in emergency landing practice?

Andrew Sarangan schrieb:

When you are on
downwind or base you are only guessing what your approach angle might
be. You are relying heavily on how high it "feels" and how far it
"feels",

I couldn't disagree more. You don't have to guess neither altitude nor
distance, because the angle at which you see the runway (or rather the
landing field) remains the same. You know at which angle you should see
the runway when you are on downwind, and if your downwind happens to be
nearer or farther, then just keep that same angle and your altitude will
authomatically adjust.

But if you rely on the altimeter, even if you happen to know the field
elevation, you have to know your distance to make the approach work. No
problem at your home base, where you know exactly where you are, but a
big problem with off field landings. And if you happen to have to make
an unusual approach, for whatever reason, your just plain lost if you're
relying on the altimeter.

You may have tought your method for years, but have you taught them with
true simulated outlandings, away from arfields, in unkonwn countryside,
where the student doesn't conveniently know the turn to base and where
the field elevation is a couple of hundred feet off from your departure
point? (I can see you chop the power at 2000 ft AGL and then tell the
student to grab the map and calculate the target altitude...)

I have dozens of true outlandings under my belt and it never even
occured to me to glance at the altimeter. It's outside the cockpit where
the things happen. Granted, the outlandings were in gliders, where you
have much better control over your glide path. Still, power pilots tend
to rely far too much on the gauges.

On Oct 15, 1:08 pm, "Gig 601XL Builder" wrDOTgiaconaATsuddenlink.net
wrote:
brtlmj wrote:

Correct. Additionally, altimeter will tend to stick with engine off.

WHAT?

When I purchased my glider it had a button on the stick that would run
a motor with and off ballance weight on it next to the the Altimeter.
It's purpose was to shake the altimeter so it would give an acurate
reading. Most Power aircraft have a built in altimeter shaker called
an engine.

Brian
CFIIG/ASEL
HP16T N16VP

On Wed, 17 Oct 2007 15:13:49 -0700, Andrew Sarangan
wrote:

You are relying heavily on how high it "feels" and how far it
"feels", and how that might transpire into a good approach angle after
you turn final. Once you are on final, your argument is correct that
you should be able to do everything by the visual angle.

I had a good demonstration of this a few days ago. I was returning to
the airport from the south and decided that I wasn't going to bother
going off to find the 45 when Runway 02 was staring right at me, so I
cut the power and trimmed for 60 mph, only to realize as time went on
that I was sinking below the desired glide angle. I had to go to 1200
rpm to make the runway. If the engine had been out, I would have been
sorely embarrassed.

Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

Claire Chennault and His American Volunteers, 1941-1942
new from HarperCollins www.FlyingTigersBook.com

Cubdriver wrote:
I had a good demonstration of this a few days ago. I was returning to
the airport from the south and decided that I wasn't going to bother
going off to find the 45 when Runway 02 was staring right at me, so I
cut the power and trimmed for 60 mph, only to realize as time went on
that I was sinking below the desired glide angle. I had to go to 1200
rpm to make the runway.

As a finesse for advanced piloting, consider not only the wind ut the
wind "gradient". Generaly, as you descend facing a headwind, thewind
speed diminished as you approach ground level. typically, here n Ohio
(flatland with trees) when crossing through 100 ft off the ground, you
can plan on the wind loosing ha;f its value. in a 20 knot headwind at
pattern altitude, when you craoss below 100 ft, expect a relatively
quick loss of up to 10 knots airspeed. It may not always be a sharp
change, but a gradual one. As the wind speed experineced dimiishes, your
airspeed likely drops, followed by an increased sink rate that can only
be made up with some power as you experineced.

If the engine had been out, I would have been
sorely embarrassed.

That's what makes forced landings interesting. It also shows why flaps
and/or slipping is a requisite talent for private pilots.

Slips are two sort; foorward and side. 'Forward' means that you want to
maintain the original path over the ground, as for loosing altitude on
final. 'Side' means that you keep the heading constant while you loose
altitude, as when you are corrcting back to course after a crosswind
drift on final.

It is often said that one should not slip with flaps. The danger is
only in being too slow while cross-controlling (needed for slips) with
flaps extended. The cure is to carry 10-20 knots extra airspeed (viz 80
mph rather that 60 mph) in the descent, the risk of a cross-controlled
stall, even aggravated by crossed controls is minimal to nil. Keep the
nose down (accompanies the higher speed); if it ballons, the stall follws.

Another factor is for older Cessnas that have only one static port
forward of the left cabin, the airspeed indicator will indicate low in a
slip to the left, and high for a slip to the right. Thus, "10 extra
knots for grandma" applies for safety in slipping if you can't sort out
which is which on the fly.

Angelo Campanella

Did you shoot the mechanic after the second forced landing he caused?
(just being facetious, but I'll bet you and he parted ways after that)

Had a friend who "almost" had a cylinder blow apart on a Skymaster. It
was cracked about 3/4 the way around. Happened on a flight of young
eagles.
It was also the rear engine. He detected a bit of vibration and
returned to the airport.

David Johnson

"Dave" wrote in message
...
Did you shoot the mechanic after the second forced landing he caused?
(just being facetious, but I'll bet you and he parted ways after that)

Had a friend who "almost" had a cylinder blow apart on a Skymaster. It
was cracked about 3/4 the way around. Happened on a flight of young
eagles.
It was also the rear engine. He detected a bit of vibration and
returned to the airport.

David Johnson


As a matter of fact, two years after the second mechanic related
failure, I was flying a 414 for a Fruit Company when they hired a new
mechanic. You guessed it. I quit. Two times was enough.

Al G