ark (12/17/82)
I traded some hood time with a friend last night in a Cessna 172. He was shocked to discover that I normally fly ILS approaches at about 105 knots -- he normally flies them at about 65 or 70, with partial flaps. His arguments: (1) it's better practice because it's harder to control the airplane, and (2) by putting the airplane in its landing configuration over the outer marker, you minimize configuration changes on short final. My arguments: (1) A big advantage of flying over driving is that I can get there sooner. Flying an ILS approach quickly saves time. It seems best to do during practice whatever you would do for real. (2) Sometimes ATC tells you to keep your speed up on final because you have fast traffic on your tail. (3) All I have to do over the marker is reduce power to start the descent. In a retractable, I drop the gear over the marker and leave power alone. (4) An ILS always has a long runway at the end, so there is plenty of time to bleed off airspeed in the flare. I also believe, and this should probably be #0, that there is no single "right" way to do it, and each pilot should use the technique that makes him the most comfortable. I am posting this to the net so I can have the opportunity to hear, and learn from, other people's comments.
dwl (12/18/82)
Just to add to the confusion, I fly a Mooney... an elderly one. If I "...just drop the gear, leaving the power alone..." I'll probably damage something! I usually slow to about 120 (mph) during the vectoring that leads to the initial approach segment, and to about 100 approaching the marker. 120 is the max gear extension speed in that airplane. I then drop the gear, and cross the marker at the speed that results ... typically about 100. Slowing further is usually delayed until the field is in sight. When the weather is really low, however, I, too, prefer to fly the whole approach slowly. More time to think things over on the way to the middle marker. Turbulence is more easily handled at a higher airspeed. So is a pull-up if the field doesn't come into view. -Dave Levenson -BTL Holmdel
larson (03/09/83)
#R:rabbit:-99400:sri-unix:4000001:000:638 sri-unix!larson Feb 14 19:20:00 1983 Your 105 Kt approach speed is somewhat above the manuevering speed of the C-172 (around 87 Kt as I recall). You might be in for a suprise if you hit sudden turbulence in those clouds you are diving through. When I was doing IFR in the 172, we used 70 or 80 Kt, depending on whether one of the speeds was in the handy little box at the bottom of the Jepp chart. You really don't want to come screaming out of the clouds at DH and have to change things that much. You should be configured so that you just continue your ride down the ILS to the runway - smoothly. Remember, some things are harder to slow down than a Cessna. Alan