Tue, Nov 28, 2006
Aero-Tips!
A good pilot is always learning -- how many times have you heard
this old standard throughout your flying career? There is no truer
statement in all of flying (well, with the possible exception of
"there are no old, bold pilots.")
Aero-News has called upon the expertise of Thomas P. Turner,
master CFI and all-around-good-guy, to bring our readers -- and us
-- daily tips to improve our skills as aviators. Some of them, you
may have heard before... but for each of us, there will also be
something we might never have considered before, or something that
didn't "stick" the way it should have the first time we memorized
it for the practical test.
Look for our daily Aero-Tips segments, coming each day to you
through the Aero-News Network.
Aero-Tips 11.28.06
"Old Bob" Siegfried is a retired United Air Lines captain (he'll
like that I spelled out UAL as three words) and a wise, expressive
gentleman. He's been profiled in AOPA Pilot and other
magazines, and among other things has been a visiting instructor
teaching at the US Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force
Base. Among many other projects Old Bob (that's how he signs his
name) patiently educates pilots on internet chatlines, superbly
mentoring dozens if not hundreds of pilots. Recently he posted the
following on an aviation user's group:
"...the minimum Required Obstacle Clearance is 250 feet for
the straight in non precision approach. The Required Obstacle
Clearance for a circling approach is 300 feet...."
To Bob's observations I'll add:
Remember that your altimeter, if set correctly to a local
altimeter setting, can legally be as much as 75 feet off for IFR.
So at Minimum Descent Altitude (MDA) you may be as close as
- 175 feet to an obstacle on a nonprecision straight-in
approach,
- 225 feet in a circling approach.
Be a little inaccurate with dialing in the altimeter setting, or
use a remotely located or out-of-date altimeter setting, and you
may be even closer to terrain and obstacles.
(Note: now you know why approach minimums
often go up if you don't have a "local" altimeter
setting!).
Be meticulous about:
- checking your altimeter for tolerance before IFR flight
- entering the altimeter setting that's current just prior to
beginning the approach, and
- absolutely remaining at or above MDA until in conditions that
let you visually identify and avoid sometimes hard-to-see
obstacles, and in a position to descend at a normal rate to
landing.
Aero-tip of the day: Watch your MDA. There is
very little margin for error.
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