Old myths?
Every now and then I fly with captains who consistently go well into the "too-much-red" area on the PAPI or PLASI. This way, they claim, they'll greatly reduce the landing distance.
I cannot really understand why? One thing is that a downdraught might send us straight into the LLZ antenna / ground, but doesn't a shallow approach angle always give a longer landing distance?
Helicopters have the shortest LD and they have an AA of 80-90 degrees ;-)
Others insist that we "get on the step" when leveling off at a "high" cruising altitude (climbing to 25.300' and then diving back to 25.000' to accelerate faster! Why would one want to gain extra potential energy, just to trade it off for kinetic energy thirty seconds later? Why not start the acceleration earlier and at the same time avoid a level bust? (I can't believe that today's turboprops are that underpowered that the power available curve tangents the power required curve at 25.000', thus justifying "the step"..?)
Well?