Originally Posted by sternone
ATC today ordered me (while i was in final, 400ft above the ground) to immediatly make a right turn, because the plane behind me was faster than my good old Cessna 152 trainer...
IS THAT NORMAL ???
No,
sternone, emphatically it is NOT normal.
ATC will normally have cleared you to land by 400 feet, unless they have previously warned you to expect a late landing clearance. In the circumstances you describe, it seems the fault must lie with ATC in allowing this situation to develop.
At 400 feet, only in exceptional (i.e. emergency) circumstances should you be given anything other than a clearance to "Land" or "Go-around". This was not an emergency, merely a convenience for ATC to remedy a situation probably of their own making. The response should be simply "Unable to comply" and, if necessary, the following traffic may have to Go-around, which would be inconvenient, but at least it is a standard manouevre
The sad incident at Southend last July (referred to above) is a case in point and the
report concludes by saying:
During his second solo flight the student was instructed to carry out an unfamiliar and non-standard manoeuvre.
Earlier in the report, it also says:
He had also been trained to comply with those ATC clearances that might be expected after turning onto the base leg and commencing his approach to the runway. These would be: to ‘continue’ and await clearance to land; to ‘land’ having been cleared to do so; and to ‘go-around’. Consequently, it is likely that he was properly prepared for the circuit environment that his instructor might reasonably have anticipated.
The report ends by making the following recommendation:
Safety Recommendation 2007-037
The Civil Aviation Authority should amend MATS Part 1 so that, with the exception of issuing instructions to go‑around, controllers shall not issue instructions that would require an aircraft in the final stages of approaching to land to deviate from its expected flight path unless exceptional overriding safety considerations apply.
That says it all, really ...
JD
