4 red but on glide slope

[PelicanSquawk]

Originally Posted by Capn Bloggs

PelicanSquawk , IMO you have been unjustly criticised. We need some more info though.

- You say "the chart says MEHt 738 61ft". What chart was this? If it is an official, state chart, I'm surprised it says 738. MEHT for a PAPI/VASI is not contingent on an aircraft type. The PAPI will merely place the eyeballs of who is looking at it at 61ft over the threshold, nothing more. It doesn't matter if it is a Concorde or a Cessna 172.

- What does your ops manual say about transferring to the Visual Aim Point off an ILS? Any mention of transitioning to the PAPI? Mind you, such a thing is, IMO, a stupid idea because it would severely destabilise your approach below the ILS DA. Can your instructor imagine you hauling back on the stick at 200ft AGL to correct the 4 reds you saw?

- What's your stabilised approach criteria? Does it mention that the PAPI overrides the ILS GS?

- What airport was this at? Perhaps the "61ft" is incorrect. It is quite easy to use Google Earth to verify the MEHt if the PAPI can be seen.

- In any case, if the FDAP shows you were on the GS the whole way down, anybody who criticises you or worse, marks you down, is on shaky ground, in my view.

Flight Detent , I don't expect the Yanks to have ICAO markings but the runway above, 05L, has got incorrect markings as well. There should be markings at 150m, 300m then the aiming point markings at 400m. Where is that airport?

Thanks for the reply. I’ll attach below a screenshot from google earth of the runway.

tbh it was a case of me really focussing on nailing the GS because I was getting a bit of criticism before for not maintaining in the last 300ft or so the glide path…but in this case it resulted in 4 reds…I must admit I was much more focused inside and not enough outside…but I feel at a bit of a loss because all the data suggests I couldn’t have maintained the path better, but I’ve been written up as getting low on 4 reds. I really don’t want to have this situation again…and I don’t want to make a big deal of one approach with my instructor because I should just move on.

The chart is navtech and it definitely says 61ft and then a note saying that it’s the MEHT for B738.