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Old 30th Jan 2005, 18:43
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ShyTorque

Avoid imitations
 
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Wandering the FIR and cyberspace often at highly unsociable times
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Global Pilot,

The big problem with Helis doing fast ILS approaches is that the speed has to be washed off at the bottom (we obviously can't land at fixed wing speeds, especially if there are skids rather than wheels fitted) which can put the aircraft above the glideslope or even back into cloud if the pilot isn't careful, due to flare effects tending to convert speed to height. Also, in extremely poor conditions, the single pilot has to go from instruments to flying at very low speed or to a hover with marginal visual cues, a "third dimension" that isn't necessary in fixed wing (once the aircraft has touched down on the runway it's a 2D environment).

We are based at a busy airport and often get asked to make "best speed". 130 kts is good for ATC but it does mean that the gear can't go down until late on the approach. Personally, I use the airspeed hold and control the airspeed with the coolie hat and let the aircraft make its own arrangements - it does it so much better than me!

I then "beep" the speed back to get below gear limiting speed and if the weather is right on limits I bring it back to 75 or 80kts to make life a little less hectic over the runway.
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