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Old 7th Aug 2011, 15:44
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tmmorris
 
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Indeed. If you think of an SRA as a talking non-precision approach (so once inside the FAF you descend not below the MDA, if you like you can do it all in one go and then fly level at the MDA), and the PAR as a talking ILS, it's a piece of cake.

For the PAR you will need to be able to maintain a 3deg descent, just like an ILS, monitoring airspeed - rate of descent - airspeed -rate of descent all the way down, and adjusting following what you hear instead of what you see on the ILS receiver.

Not only that, but your friendly local RAF station will monitor your decision height (usually by saying 'Procedure minimum for this approach is 200ft' and waiting for you to say 'Decision height for this approach will be 500ft, this approach will be to low approach and go-around' or whatever) and then tell you when you are 'Approaching decision height' and 'Passing decision height'. They'll do that for an ILS, too, as they will use the PAR equipment to monitor your approach. It's like a virtual co-pilot, and very handy.

The only downside is they will expect you to conduct approaches on QFE - which is a whole separate argument I don't want to kick off again! (Hence references to Height in the foregoing.)

Tim
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