Aircraft Approach Category
Hi all,
Yesterday, while flying, we had a discussion in the cockpit about Aircraft Approach Category with reference to the following points, and I would LOVE to hear/read your opinions and ideas about it.
Here are some of the questions and points we discussed and explored:
1.The way the info is depicted on Jeppesen charts:
- Category letter designation on the bottom-left Vs.max. airspeeds on the bottom right.
- Are the airspeeds TAS or GS?
- Is there correlation between the letters on the Left side and the max speeds on the Right side? (I claimed there is but I couldn't find any text explaining that, not even in the Jepp. Introduction. But I do remember many years ago I read it. maybe in a text book...)
2. TERPS vs. PANS-OPS. with regards to theory and practice:
- The differences and between them and their meanings.
- What should we pay attention to as pilots when we brief an approach plate? (specially if some of your airline's destinations have TERPS plates and some have PANS-OPS)?
- What happens when operating at higher speeds than depicted (in both TERPS & PANS-OPS)? Should I operate according to the speed of a higher category? Shall I use a higher minima according to the "new" higher category?
- And what happens if I decide to fly part of the approach at high speed and the rest in lower speed?
3. Types of charts that the Aircraft Approach Category applies to:
- Does it only apply for Circle to Land maneuvers or for all approach types?
4. The correct way to operate the aircraft:
PANS-OPS - Since different speeds are assumed for different phazes of the approach, should I memorize the airspeed limits of the categories in every approach phaze (Initial approach, Final approach, Circle to Land, Missed Approach, etc..)?
5. How do you operate your aircraft? Do you even care about all that?