Originally Posted by
B2N2
Lets not get carried away here.
A Challenger jet is not a Cat D aircraft as far as approach category.
Very much possible that 14,000 plus high temperatures created a density altitude of 20,000+
TAS increases over IAS at 2%/1000’ so we could be looking at a TAS which is 40% higher then IAS.
250kts IAS would equate a TAS of 350 plus or minus wind.
A groundspeed of 350kts+ doesn’t mean this was a crew just blazing through the skies.
I hear you, but we can just pull the FD valid for that time instead of guessing:
FBUS31 KWNO 261357
FD1US1
DATA BASED ON 261200Z
VALID 261800Z FOR USE 1400-2100Z. TEMPS NEG ABV 24000
FT 3000 6000 9000 12000 18000 24000 30000 34000 39000
RNO 9900 9900+18 1409+12 1411-07 1517-17 182031 192242 212154
FBUS31 KWNO 261958
FD1US1
DATA BASED ON 261800Z
VALID 270000Z FOR USE 2000-0300Z. TEMPS NEG ABV 24000
FT 3000 6000 9000 12000 18000 24000 30000 34000 39000
RNO 2712 3108+21 3606+12 0508-06 1516-17 152231 162441 162553
Can we agree that the temp at 14,000’ was likely around +6C with winds variable but no more than 10kts? PA was likely a little lower given the local altimeter, but even with a 14,000PA, DA would have only been about 16,100. So a TAS of 360 (being conservative) would have produced a CAS of 293.
Based on the ground track, I’m more interested in whether he was set up to hold at ALVVA or AWEGA. I need a better time stamp to match the calls made on the ATC tape, but my initial thought is that he called established when he was within 10° of the reciprocal to a 340 bearing hold to the north, but at AWEGA rather than the assigned ALVVA. Eventually he did track inbound on the 160 to AWEGA for several miles. This also seems to be where the adjustments were made to speed.
Could that just have been an artifact of getting assigned direct AWEGA after calling established passing ALVVA? Sure. Better data will prove either theory.