What_next my point is that the REIL should be bright enough to be seen through the low IFR gloom. My approaches in low IFR are mainly for northern Italy and when you break out you can see the lights which act like a horizon bar, and are just before the REIL. At CAT 1 DA am guessing these lights are around 1/2 mile. The 1230 m is to the touchdown zone using Timothy’s geometry and 3 degree stabilised slope, the REIL is closer to DA or am I missing something?
I appreciate that that training is to go around at minimum, and I’m not asking if people bust the minimum on purpose. Rather I’m wondering about the Psychology of it. What is the thought process and the pressure that a pilot fees as they approach minimum on an IFR approach and can’t see outside.
My main thought, approaching the DH and seeing nothing, is to not screw up the go-around, which is easily done and many have lost control on it and crashed.
One can’t go around with the autopilot. Well, one could disconnect the AP at the DA, pitch up to say 10 degrees up, and re-engage it in the PIT and HDG modes (maintain the pitch, wings level, and fly the heading) but I don’t know anybody who does that, or at least not immediately.
Also you are going quite slowly at the DH so if you wind in full power (as you must) you also need a bootful of right rudder. At the same time, flaps away (once the speed is ok; in a SEP it usually is high enough) and gear up.
So it gets really busy.
As regards the forbidden thoughts of going just a little further…
I have read many posts, especially in forums behind a paywall, by certain well known pilots, saying that doing that is quite a different (=more acceptable) thing if you are fully stabilised on an ILS. And that makes obvious sense. If OTOH you are struggling to keep it below half scale deviation then you are looking at quite a dogleg if you get visual at the DH and it may not be possible.
My view is that this, well, depends. On a 200ft DH ILS I would go around instantly at 200ft because dipping down to 150ft and then going around really transforms the situation, because you are so close. But also the reality is that if you are not visual at 200ft the wx is sooo crappy that you probably saw that it will be a no-go in the METARs.
I think psychology does come into it and e.g. knowing the area closely and knowing there are no obstacles for many miles, and with a DH of 800ft, and flying a LNAV+V coupled approach on autopilot…?
But IME this rarely happens and I have done lots of approaches getting visual way above the DH and a good number where I never got visual, and only a few where the wx was in the region of the DH.
Also the reality of how wx forms is that you tend to get
What I am getting at is that usually you more or less know what to expect in terms of when you will get visual.
Often not even aligned with your aircraft as autopilots/flight directors tend to crab the aircraft into wind.
The runway should however be aligned with the HSI course pointer, and the HSI deviation bar is aligned with that. So e.g. in this case the runway should appear 10 degrees to the right:
The first time I had to make an approach to minimums, the alternate I had selected (Aalborg – EKYT) was really inconvenient for me, but it was the only possibility given the weather and endurance situation.
I remember looking up at +100 feet, seeing nothing and thinking only “I don’t want to go to Aalborg…”. Looking up the next time at DA, I had the approach lights in sight. But of course I would have gone missed if I still hadn’t seen anything.
what_next wrote:
We ended up over the threshold banked 30 degrees and pitching down 10 degrees… You can recover that in a Pa28 but in anything over 5 tons it is scary.
It’s not just P2s and students.
I’ve been there in an HS125. And I was in the RHS with PF being the Owner and Chief Pilot of the company I worked for. He was an ex BA 747 captain.
Peter wrote:
One can’t go around with the autopilot.
You can with many autopilots (including my ancient Altimatic V). That’s what the Go-Around button (or TOGA – Take-off/Go Around on more sophisticated aircraft) on the throttle is for. You press that button as you apply power and it pitches up to about 10° and flies straight ahead. You can then unSUSP, reengage GPSS and bob’s yer uncle it flies the MA.
I looked for pictures, but the only light twin one I could find was this.
Speaking as someone who mainly flies scheduled transport these days but still a bit of GA, I am very much in the “SOP” camp of things here and will either make a continue or go around call at minimums, no room for indecision. This was how I was taught back when I did an IMC rating (IR(r) now) and I’ve carried this through. GA wise I have almost no thoughts as I make an approach and still see nothing other than concentrating until I get to a decision point. I feel very comfortable (although not complacent I hope) with either outcome. Work-wise I will sometimes sigh to myself a bit if I suspect a go around may be inevitable, mainly because we don’t do them that often and due to company procedures it can often lead to report writing afterwards which few enjoy doing.
Like Timothy, I also flew a Navajo a few years ago and whilst I cannot remember which autopilot it was equipped with (Century and Altimatic ring bells) it would also automatically fly a go around upon the press of a button.
I have to remind myself as a newer IR pilot to not cheat, look outside and try to “see” the ground before MDA, even though that’s your instinct. I’ll tell you what can happen when you don’t do that:
Was on ILS into Chino airport here about a month ago. There were no clouds, but it was extremely hazy. And the sun was setting right in my eyes, so visibility was very low. Cleared for the approach (late) and I was tracking it down to 26R, which has the ILS. I kept looking out, wasn’t fully centered on ILS and it was a little sloppy. Then I see rwy about 200ft before mins, recheck my GUMPS stuff and proceed towards landing when….
Tower: “N171AT, you seem to bee lining up on 26L there.”
Me: “Oh, sorry, my mistake. I can sidestep to 26R…maybe…”
(by this time we were below MDA and it would not have been entirely safe to sidestep)
ATC: “It’s fine, no other traffic. Cleared to land on 26L”.
On the ground I apologize profusely and expect them to give me a number to call, but they downplayed it and said it was all fine etc. But it isn’t, really. I posed a serious risk to any other aircraft who might have been on final to 26L visually. So what went wrong? Well, I got a late clearance, so prob was behind a little. No excuse, but that’s how it was. Chino’s longest rwy is 26L, so comes into sight much earlier than 26R. In fact, its threshold starts about 2200ft before the threshold to 26R. But it does not have the ILS for some reason – only the shorter rwy has that.
Had I flown the ILS to minimums centered and not looked up until MDA, I would not have made this mistake. So it was a good lesson to have. I’m sure I’ll steal a glance in future too – I think that’s human nature – but I will direct my attention to the LOC/GS at all times.
I don’t think the FAA has allowed the full go-around functionality to be certified for something like 30 or 40 years. The King boxes do (some do) have a GA (go-around) button but that disconnects the autopilot servos and presents you with a flight director showing 10 or 15 degrees UP, to assist you in flying the plane manually on the right track and with the right pitch. I don’t know if the Garmin 700 or the DFC90 do any more.
Good point from Adam – many have made that mistake, including airliners.
I think that’s probably quite sensible. I have checked that mine works in VMC, but I am not convinced that I would use it at 180’ in IMC.
The GFC700 autopilot can certainly (and in turbine aircraft in my experience always does) have a TO/GA button which does disconnect the A/P, raise the command bars, and sequence into GPS and the missed approach – you then have to activate the correct lateral mode ie NAV in that case. In many newer G3000 implementations such as the M600 the missed approach can be flown fully coupled ie the A/P never disconnects. The pilot just has to add power and select the correct NAV lateral mode to follow.
