I am reminded of the american DC10 freighter crew some years ago who did not have QNH selected while being vectored for the ILS at East Midlands with an extremely low QNH. They ended up dangerously low.
Can you see the altimeter setting with mode S or just infer it from the display e.g. the aircraft is a multiple of 30 feet below a minimum altitude.
My particular bugbear at the moment is being cleared to decend to a level below flight level 100 with 2000 feet per minute all the way down. The problem is that at normal speed say 290 knots there is no way I can descend at the given rate and reduce speed in a sensible fashion to the mandatory 250 knots. This happens to me all the time descending into a particular airfield in airspace E. I have lost count of the number of actual RAs I have had in this airspace so it is something I take very seriously.
When I point out that I am unable to comply with the clearance or inform ATC in advance of the problem that is going to occur there is seeming incomprehension and a sense that I am telling them how to do their job.
Last edited by lederhosen; 21st Oct 2009 at 14:21.