Every Microlight approach is a glide approach

[OyYou]

Excuse me if this has been covered before, but I am a recent convert to 3 axis microlights in the UK from Group A and I have been advised that as the engine (Rotax) ' has not been certified to a recognised international standard' I am expected to use idle power on every approach as the engine may fail at any moment.

I am not disputing the advice and agree that you should always be prepared for the unexpected, but I cannot find any information on this other than what my instructor has told me. Is this the norm? Does it only apply to microlights?
The same Rotax is also fitted to heavier non microlight a/c. Are they expected to do glide approaches on every approach?

Could someone point me in the direction of the chapter and verse on this?

Best wishes

[Rod1]

If it is a 2 stroke then I would follow the advice! If it is a 912, then the only difference between the certified version and the uncertified one is the paperwork and the cost. The 912 is very reliable and according to LAA eng it is more reliable than the older engines.

Rod1

[tonyhs56]

This is a fairly standard response from a microlight instructor. With the 912 it is not really a problem, but you might end up flying a non 912 microlight where the older engines were not so reliable, so you are taught glide approaches right from the start.

Tony

[Genghis the Engineer]

It's certainly pretty standard thinking in microlight pilots and older instructors and has its root in the relative unreliability of the engines first used in microlights which did have a bit of a habit of stopping without asking first every few hundred hours.

As a flying discipline, I rather like it - it puts an interesting challenge to accurately identify each time the point where I can close the throttle and exactly make the threshold, and it is certainly true that if most of your approaches are glide approaches, you are much better equipped to make the field if the engine does stop in flight - most microlight pilots have been in a field at some point, whilst very few have ever damaged the aircraft doing that.

That said, I'd dispute the slightly simplistic line that all approaches are glide approaches, since there are still good reasons why a microlight pilot might occasionally want to fly a powered approach, and they should still be practiced, just as you'd practice a glide approach in a light aeroplane. For example, to avoid confusing the aircraft behind you at a busy GA field, or just to sharpen up your flying skills.

As for where you'd find written advice on this, the BMAA instructor and examiner guide is probably the best place.

G

[batninth]

OyYou,

From what I've learnt I agree with Ghengis that the "glide approach" philosophy comes from the old days of 2-stroke engines with single ignition systems - ask any more mature microlight pilot & you'll get many stories about failing engines on various microlight models

Having said that, I've also been told by the very same mature pilots that modern engines, esp the 4-stroke Rotax are much more reliable, even the uncertified ones as Rod1 says. Even Rotax 503 & 582 are dual ignition units, gosh some even have electric starters!

As for glide approaches, whilst I've been taught to keep the field within glide distance on the circuit we often use power in the approach. The low initeria of the microlights means that gliding in becomes seriously challenging in gusty conditions. Certainly yesterday was not a glide approach day in the 3-axis I was in!

[tangovictor]

I gained my nppl m in a 3 axis microlight, and whilst the glide approach is taught, so is the powered, both have to be demonstated, during the gst

[OyYou]

Thanks all.

I will continue to practice both but I have just watched ab initio students struggle to master glide approaches and the subsequent landings early on in their flying career.
Wouldn't it be better to teach power on techniques initially as the norm and once that is mastered then introduce glide approaches. To my naive way of thinking, arn't the 'allways glide approaches' advocates a bit stuck in the past?

The engine ( yes a Rotax 912 ) is fitted to non microlights and they don't have this 'tradition' of expecting the engine to fail at the most inappropriate time. Why do they have a different 'attitude'.

Best wishes

[wulf190a]

After nearly 30 years Microlight instructing with countless engines failure in early days, always kept me and my students in one piece. But it is only one of several methods of landing depending on conditions or circumstances.

Wulf