Originally Posted by
27/09
As for climbing above the cloud and knowing it its clear on the other side. If you start off low you should be able to see through to the other side of the ridge at some point. If there is plenty of sunshine on the ground on the other side then there should places to descend.
Very good point, haven't thought of that.
I'd also like to comment on your landing. Firstly congratulations on deciding to go around the first time.
Ah well, it was crystal clear I have too much height. For a moment I thought about side-slipping her in, but discarded the idea. Having a look at the wind sock was a better idea.
I need to ask why you didn't fly the circuit for the same runway but elected instead to reposition for the opposite runway? Why did you chose Rwy08 for the first approach and not the second? As you said yourself the approach for 26 has issues.
RWY 08 was chosen initially because my arrival favoured that direction, I was high and from a South-East position I could fly longer alongside the circuit, shedding altitude. Apparently this wasn't enough. After flying over the wind sock, I noticed it was hanging down, but it pointed to reverse direction, favoring RWY 26. So I figured that the last variable wind blew from the west, and I thought runway direction reversal would be a good idea, just to be on safe side and protect from possibility of tailwind. Moreover, there was a model airplane flying at the East end of the runway, so approach from that direction to RWY 26 would be more noticeable for the model airplane's pilot. I only noticed that RWY 26 has elevated terrain all along the approach path when I actually flew the approach and wasn't happy to get too close to the ground. (I didn't know that in advance, altough I checked many pictures and a few videos about the airfield, also overflew it from the opposite direction!)
There are benefits in flying the circuit and landing on the same runway, unless it's obvious you chose incorrectly the first time, then it's not a bad idea to fly three legs of the circuit of the new runway. The benefits are you get yourself properly orientated and ensure you are not doing something non standard and forgetting something or make a mistake.
True. Although I said I would make a 45 degree procedure turn back to RWY 26, I actually flew a base leg and a final for the same reason. But yes, ideally, I should have reversed direction on downwind leg only, giving me a chance to settle down, have a closer look at the runway and approach path etc.
Lastly you mentioned you were stabilised on the approach at 65 to 70 knots, yet you seemed to float a long way down the runway, far far further than I as an instructor would have been comfortable with. If I have been sitting beside you I would have instructed you to go around.
Will sound strange, but if I had been sitting besides me, I would have done the same
What I mean is that directional control and the long flare over the narrow and rising/falling runway took great deal of my attention, and I noticed the other threshold coming up, instead of noticing how much runway was already gone behind. That was 1-2 seconds already too late.
What speed did you cross the threshold at? Hopefully not 65 knots. If the figures I have for the Katana DV20 are correct (38 KIAS stall speed full flap) then with full flap extended at all up weight you should be crossing the threshold at 50 KIAS.
65 kts I am afraid. We are instructed to approach at 70 kts in general, or at 60-65 kts for short runways. This is to cover windshear, variable winds, distraction or poor monitoring of airspeed etc. And this turns against us when we go for these small places. Especially that RWY 26 threshold seems accessible to a precise flare only by cutting the throttle a tad earlier, slowing down to 55-60 kts over the last part of terrain and then agressively drop in over the 50 m CWY (posibly picking up +5 kts in the process). I missed that, so in reality, I was also 1-2 meter too high over the threshold, contributing to the long flare.
Hopefully my comments will be of help to you in the future.
Much appreciated, many thanks.