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Straight In
by Thomas P. Turner
You’re inbound on an IFR clearance in visual condi- tions and are cleared for a visual approach. Do you continue straight in to land? You’ve canceled IFR or flying VFR, and your direction of f light and the runway alignment are about the same. Do you need to fly the full traffic pattern? Is a straight-in landing even legal? Is it in some way safer? What are the risks and rewards, and how do you man- age one and benefit from the others? Let’s talk about straight-in landings.
Stabilized approach
A long straight-in supports the con- cept of flying a stabilized approach.
Being stabilized increases safety and precision as you descend to the touchdown zone. Being unstabilized is often cited as a contributing factor to landing accidents.
But there is no industry-wide con- sensus on exactly what f lying “stabi- lized” means. Is it a constant-speed descent from five miles out or 1500 feet AGL? 2000 AGL? 1000 AGL? 500 AGL? Is it putting the airplane in the landing configuration, including full f laps, and f lying a constant power glide path all the way until the tires touch? Is it about glide path manage- ment? None or all of the above?
Often, it’s left to a commercial op- erator to define a stabilized approach
for its pilots. What works for one type of aircraft may not work for another. But what if you’re a business or per- sonal pilot flying outside of an en- vironment requiring FAA-approved operations specifications?
The preamble to FAA’s Stabilized Approach and Landing Fact Sheet tells us: “A stabilized approach is one in which the pilot establishes and maintains a constant angle glidepath towards a predetermined point on the landing runway. It is based on the pi- lot’s judgment of certain visual clues and depends on the maintenance of a constant final descent airspeed and configuration.” The body of the two-page fact sheet does not mention
24 • TWIN & TURBINE / November 2023