Fear of Landing

MARCH 1, 2024

The stall speed is cited in the docket as 53 knots. Whoever was flying that day appears to have intentionally slowed the aircraft to 28 knots. Regardless, the aircraft entered a dangerous descent at 8,000 feet per minute. The Cessna 172S crashed into the ground, destroying the cockpit.

Descent 52

Descent Airplanes Knot Pilot 52

Aerotime

NOVEMBER 22, 2024

Before the aircraft begins to move, on the left-hand ( port ) side of the aircraft you may also notice the ground crew waving a thin red flag at the captain (who always sits, aviation convention dictates, in the left-hand seat in the cockpit of fixed-wing aircraft). This marks the most critical point of the take-off run.

Cabin Crew 130

Cabin Crew Runway Knot Clearance 130

Plane and Pilot

AUGUST 23, 2024

Fifteen hundred feet past the end of the runway, a pilot was trapped in the cockpit of an Extra NG. Forty-five minutes after the accident, the pilot was found alive, still pinned upside down in the flooded cockpit. Data shows a constant high-speed descent straight toward the runway. Rescue crews extracted her from the plane.

Knot 52

Knot Runway Pilot Air Traffic Control 52

Air Facts

SEPTEMBER 30, 2024

Naturally, my first officer and I got a good laugh from this as our 757 was cruising along effortlessly at about 300 knots indicated airspeed, and was not yawing towards the supposedly dead engine. We were nearing the LAX airport at 18,000 feet and starting to get busy with the descent into SAN.

Indicated Airspeed 98

Indicated Airspeed Air Traffic Control Airplanes Descent 98

Air Facts

JULY 1, 2024

After all the preliminaries, and in full command of the cockpit, we, my instructor and I, took off on a simulated flight from Teterboro, New Jersey enroute to Norfolk, Virginia (short flight) at 15,000 feet. I put the gear down one dot above the glideslope and let the drag bring the aircraft down at its 550 foot-per-minute descent rate.

Knot 97

Knot Approach Pilot Runway 97

Plane and Pilot

AUGUST 6, 2024

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. Also, from when I lived out West, there was the mountaintop clearance guideline—1,000 feet for every 10 knots of wind, with 30 knots meaning no-go.

Airplanes 70

Airplanes Weather Ceiling Turbulence 70

Plane and Pilot

AUGUST 3, 2024

One benefit of these aerodynamic tweaks is a vibration, or “initial buffet,” that is felt in the seat of the pants and flight controls, about 10-15 knots above stall speed. If the engine does not restart, maintaining the descent and a margin above the critical angle of attack is a better bet than stalling.

Approach 62

Approach Airplanes Pilot Horizontal Stabilizer 62

Plane and Pilot

SEPTEMBER 15, 2024

The weather briefing we had reviewed a half hour earlier promised a 20-knot headwind that would require two fuel stops on the 130-mile trip from our home airport in Kennett, Missouri (KTKX), to Little Rock Air Force Base (KLRF) in Arkansas. As the sun began its descent, we began the final leg of what would end up being a four-hour trek.

Runway 74

Runway Crosswind Rudder Pilot 74

ABEAM

AUGUST 26, 2023

My son Toby was complaining about a whistling sound from our right cockpit door, and when established in the cruise, the first miles into the Atlantic Ocean, he saw that there was a gap between the door and the airplane fuselage, creating that sound and letting cold air in. after DEVBI with Iceland Radio. So we could continue to Iceland.

Weather 52

Weather Clearance Knot Airplanes 52

Plane and Pilot

SEPTEMBER 2, 2024

I checked the weather by phone and was assured it would be great CAVU (ceiling and visibility unlimited) with 2-3-knot winds from 090 degrees. I reached into the cockpit instantly and pulled the throttle to idle. It looked like I was still on a descent to touch down at the threshold on Runway 15. The engine sprang to life.

Runway 57

Runway Threshold Approach AGL 57

Chess In the Air

JUNE 24, 2022

This is consistent with Rick’s report, which referenced 9 knots of wind. Under normal circumstances Shmulik would have had sufficient altitude to delay the landing by several minutes: his glider’s minimum descent rate in still air was just 100 fpm. How Does It Feel in the Cockpit When We Encounter A Microburst?

Pilot 52

Pilot AGL Wind Shear Runway 52

Vintage Aviation News

AUGUST 22, 2024

We strapped into the cockpit, completed routine checks and procedures, started the engines, and taxied to the end of the runway. Descent check!” Landing on a short field required full flaps and the slowest possible safe airspeed, a couple of knots above stall. That was about 89 knots, as I recall.

Weight-Shift-Control 52

Weight-Shift-Control Tail Cargo Airplanes 52

Air Facts

SEPTEMBER 9, 2024

One more gadget in the cockpit cannot remedy deficits in skill, judgement, and attitude. This descent used the same technique that (would have) had value in many of the NTSB accidents involving engine failure after takeoff. No math required. Optimum” glide was not the issue here, and a visual AOA indicator would have had no value.

General Aviation 98

General Aviation Pilot Approach Airplanes 98

Plane and Pilot

OCTOBER 3, 2024

We routinely taxi at 1200 rpm due to the low spray…[we] can cruise at 10 knots” in displacement mode, something a Goose can’t do. Early on a speed restriction of 130 knots was applied as a flutter issue. This was resolved on the kit version and led to cruising at 50% power and 120 knots, which proved to be the Gweduck’s sweet spot.

Airplanes 62

Airplanes Rudder Knot Aileron 62