PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Is there a pilot onboard?
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Old 14th Sep 2005, 10:55
  #45 (permalink)  
Send Clowns

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I would qualify my "no" with something that will also explain it. I would say unless there was a very large, flat area (such as East Anglia!), and the pilot was a good student, there being only one chance, in communication with the outside world. An IR would help.

The reason I say this is that to land on a runway you must hit it in the first bit. This is a trick of firstly setting up a very stable approach, with precise speed / power / descent angle (hence the helpful IR, you do this for an easy ILS on any type). This is adjusted as required on the approach, and then ends with throttles closed and the nose raised slightly - usually about 2 degrees. This is not like a light aircraft!

If the speed is too high or the throttles closed too late then the aircraft will float. If the nose is pitched up too much the aircraft will float or even baloon. These cases will have the aircraft land very long. If the aircraft comes below glideslope it can be difficult to recover, especially with high engine wind-up times. If the speed is low impact is high, although that might not be a disaster.

Keeping the centreline is also very difficult, as the aircraft is not even as responsive as a C-172 (a lazy lump of an aircraft to handle if ever I flew one).
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