ths@lanl.ARPA (Ted Spitzmiller) (02/25/86)
A few comments regarding recent postings.... Why would IFR at night in a C-152 be any more risk than a C-172 or C-182? Certainly if you are challenging some weather it would be but I understood these poor fellows who got "hung-up" were simply playing in some coastal overcast..... yes?no? With respect to glide-slope intercept. You should NEVER begin descent on the glide-slope UNTIL you have a "live" localizer needle. As someone mentioned, you should ALWAYS verify the glide slope intercept altitude over the outer marker. I've occasionally heard of false glide slope signals but have never encountered them. From the book descriptions it sounds as though you would be hard pressed to actually be able to follow them because of the extreme angles they appear to present. Follow the approach procedures, stick with the ALWAYS, NEVER and UNITL rules, and you should live a long and healthy life. How close to the runway were these two fellows anyway? The plane looked like a C-172 on the news photos I saw just briefly on TV. Anyone have more info? Ted Spitzmiller