Remove AGL Remove Airplanes Remove Descent
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Long Trips & Small Airplanes

Plane and Pilot

Even though synthetic vision might help me perform an emergency descent to a valley that might not be cloud filled, that’s pretty sketchy as a risk-mitigation strategy. But if I was going VFR over strange territory, I would want lots more than 1,000 feet agl. Mountain obscuration means finding another route, nonnegotiable.

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My Near Death Experience

Air Facts

I requested a descent from 6,000’ down to 4,000’ and was denied due to traffic. I was soon cleared to descend to 4,000’ and entered IMC during the descent while I located the approach chart to brief. I began a rapid descent from 3,000’ down to the 2,000’ for the IAF. We’re now following a Saratoga. The IAF was looming closer.

Descent 98
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Unstable approaches

Professional Pilot

It is based on the pilot’s judgment of certain visual clues, and depends on the maintenance of a constant final descent airspeed and configuration. The destination is a couple thousand feet above sea level, with an RNAV approach that depicts a higher-than-normal descent gradient to a down-sloping runway. The ceiling is 800 ft overcast.

Approach 105
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Danger lurks in circling approaches

Air Facts

A perfectly good airplane with everything operating as expected. Perhaps just prior to the start of descent could be the optimum time–certainly completed no later than commencement of approach. Recall that we must remain at or above MDA until we are in a normal position to perform a normal rate of descent to landing.

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Riding the Mountain Waves

Plane and Pilot

FAA weather charts can help for higher altitudes but when just a few thousand feet agl, they may be less useful. Flight idle and nose down, which normally produced a 2,000-3,000-feet descent rate, resulted in a 2,000-feet-per-minute climb. We continued our descent into Great Falls, leaving “the wave” behind and above.

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Wild Alaska

Plane and Pilot

Almost immediately upon arrival into Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (PANC), I knew I was in airplane heaven from the immediate close-by 747s taxiing past the terminal windows to the noise of Beaver seaplanes whizzing overhead. The terrain reaches well over 4,000 feet agl, so a good vertical rise is seen.

AGL 94
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Flight Sims for the Win: It’s All About Repetition and Drill

Flying Magazine

It can also be dangerous when the learner drops the airplane to fly the checklist or radio, so practice in the ATD is often a good way to learn procedures, as the ATD is a CFI-controlled environment. To get the most out of the scenario, the learner should use the same procedures in the airplane. It’s an ATD. What could go wrong?

Crosswind 105