gatman
29th Feb 2004, 02:43
Reading incident reports etc it quite often says "Flying at 183kts" or whatever. This even happens when being hand flown but the question is, are you as pilots really that accurate? I've noticed someone may have a flap exedence of 3 knots or so. How do you notice this small figures?
This seems like a ballpark figure for my humble C152 and okay for the autothrottle but hand flying? I know you are all highly skilled, no patronising meant, but is it true?
Gatman
Miserlou
29th Feb 2004, 06:16
Hi Gat,
Thanks for your question. Truth is we really are fantastically, highly skilled pilots!
Seriously though, typical standard operating procedures require a missed approach if the aircraft is not 'stable' at a certain point.
This means, but may vary from company to company and in respect to type and VMC or IMC, aircraft fully configured for landing, checklists complete, established on final course/glide path and speed within -0 to +10kts of calculated Vat.
The data you read in incident reports is from a digital flight data recorder. This is great if you have your airspeed represented by a band on the EFIS but slightly less acurate if read on an analogue ASI.
Now if you hit a cloud having just selected some flap at the maximum permissible speed then this may trigger an overspeed warning due to the slightly denser air.
Truth is that its not as hard as you may think to fly so precisely (especially with EFIS). Just as you know that 12-1500rpm and full flap will give you a stable, 60kt approach in a 152, we also have approximate settings in mind. The trick is in spotting the trend quickly due to the slower reaction of the engines and the greater inertia of the aircraft but the adjustments need only be tiny.
It's really no big deal. Sorry to disappoint.