Originally Posted by
Time Traveller
I think most manuals make for a provision for a 360, but ours is not below msa, not within 10 miles, and only in vmc. I've never used it and I don't like it because I find it disorientating, and it's easy to underestimate how much height is being lost and how fast, or to not keep it turning - and head off into God knows where or what. You'd also have to be ultra careful that you're not busting safe altitudes.
The thought of "why the need for such sentence" is rather chilling. It means somebody probably tried, and the company should be lucky not learn from the news.
Fully agree with your description. The (pretty common) types I flew would as per FCTM go L/G down, mid-flaps and half spoilers at 180 knots to recover excessive altitude. Gives you between -1800, -2400 fpm in a straight line. If still too high (by 2000 ft above the platform, approaching the FAP - i.e. unrecoverable - let's imagine), the unfortunate decision to do a 360 would have you complete the full circle at 4000 below the target altitude. The obstacle clearance on the intermediate segment is 500 ft. Useless trick, that gets you nowhere but in trouble.
The 360 is not the problem. The height loss through the turn and the position where executed could be, if ignorant of the underlying safe altitude limits. I said before my first picture: the chart provides enough information to execute a 360 in an organized and well-controlled manner. Exactly that. Adding now: execute both safely and legally, definitely at least the first of the two. Fair enough, on the other side of the ring: The terrain, high temps, wind aloft, and GS angle ALSO provide for a mine-field battleground, where a stupid 360 would turn into an Air Crash Investigators episode faster than one can say "Sink-Rate".
Still bit perplexed why the need to hang Jet2 fellow crewmen or libel the whole company based on no evidence what they did if anything at all?!
There will most likely be some, once we'd dig for it. Only then we could see which of the two scenarios fits the reality closer. And open the shooting range.