Page 24 - Twin and Turbine December 16

300 feet to go...hand on the throttles (you’re going denial” will cause indecisiveness and delay exactly
to have to pull them back if you see the runway,
or push them forward if you don’t). 200 to go... localizer centered, glideslope centered. 100 to go... still nothing but gray outside. Missed approach point: no runway environment in sight, miss the approach....
You’ve now entered what is arguably the highest workload phase an instrument pilot can face—the missed approach. There’s a lot you have to do to transition from a descent to a safe, consistent climb. How can you minimize the workload and manage a safe missed approach?
The first 400 feet
The standard missed approach is designed around a 200 ft/nm climb gradient. The minimum rate of climb you’ll need to maintain this gradient depends on your ground speed.
Ground Speed (kts) Vertical Speed (fpm)
90 100
300 417
120 140
500 583
when you don’t have time to dawdle.
We need to redefine “success” in completing a trip as safe arrival at a destination that meets minimum standards of weather, fuel and personal safety margins. Most times, that destination will be the one originally planned, but on any given flight “success” may mean landing somewhere else. A mindset that successfully flying an approach means flying the procedure to FAA and personal standards (including the missed approach if needed), and not landing on the runway at the end of the approach, will go far to fight missed approach denial.
Set-up for success
Missed approaches are risky when workload exceeds the pilot’s immediate capability, so by reducing pilot workload we have a much greater margin of safety.
Think about what you need to do at the missed approach point if the runway environment is not in sight. At the very least, you need to:
Minimum climb rates required to achieve 200 ft/nm climb
For pilots of most twins these climb rates are easily achievable. But if your airplane is heavy, density altitude is high, or engine power is reduced, you may have to decide before beginning an approach if you’ll have the climb capability to miss the approach. In fact, the minimums for many approaches, especially in mountainous terrain, are driven not by obstacle clearance for the approach inbound, but the need for terrain or obstacle clearance on the missed approach.
At the minimum 200 ft/nm climb gradient you’ll be two miles from where you initiated climb before you’re at 400 feet. There’s a lot going on in the first 400 feet climbing out from a gray hole so close to the unseen ground.
Fighting denial
Pilots are, by nature, can-do people, and this manifests itself in an expectation that we will be successful in flight operations. We tend to expect we’ll be able to land out of every approach, and may not think much about the possibility of missing the approach until we find ourselves at minimums with no runway environment in sight. “Missed approach
22 • TWIN & TURBINE
Missed Approach: The First
Twin Proficiency:
• Advance power
Missed Approach Checklist
When beginning a missed approach:
1. Missed approach...COMMIT. Once you decide to miss, don’t try to “salvage” the approach or circle to land if you subsequently break out. If you start the miss, fly the miss.
2. Autopilot...DISENGAGE. Use the flight director “go around” feature if equipped.
3. Power...ADVANCE. Smoothly advance power to the recommended missed approach setting
4. Pitch...ESTABLISH. Establish the recommended pitch attitude or, if no recommendation exists, the same initial climb attitude you use on takeoff.
5. Wings...LEVEL. Fly runway heading to at least 400 AGL before making any required turns.
6. Flaps...AS REQUIRED. Begin flap retraction as required or recommended in the flight manual or POH.
7. Positive rate of climb...CONFIRM.
8. Landing gear...RETRACT as applicable.
9. Cowl flaps...OPEN as recommended, if equipped.
10. GPS...SUSPEND or OBS MODE as applicable.
11. Navigate...AS REQURIED once established in a climb
12. Report...REPORT MISSED APPROACH when able.
DECEMBER 2016