{"id":425,"date":"2010-09-08T04:00:50","date_gmt":"2010-09-08T08:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joeclarksblog.wordpress.com\/?p=425"},"modified":"2011-06-24T17:27:01","modified_gmt":"2011-06-24T21:27:01","slug":"coming-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/?p=425","title":{"rendered":"Coming\u00a0Down"},"content":{"rendered":"

Want to be one of those pilots your friends and family will always want to fly with?\u00a0 Want repeat customers all the time?\u00a0 How do you do that?\u00a0 Well, you have to be smooth and one area in which smoothest really counts in getting the airplane down from altitude.<\/p>\n

If you are one of those pilots who yanks the power back and \u201cscreams\u201d down from cruise altitude, no one is going to want to fly with you again, include your engine.<\/p>\n

By reducing power drastically and somewhat \u201cdiving\u201d down, what you are doing is \u201cshock-cooling\u201d your cylinders.\u00a0 This will lead to cracking and very expensive engine repairs.<\/p>\n

Proper planning for the descent is almost as important as planning fuel reserves.\u00a0 This area of flight planning is one pilots tend to ignore and one that provides great returns on investment regarding lower operating costs.\u00a0 It boils down to how you treat your airplane; treat it well, it will never let you down.\u00a0 However, if you abuse it, well, as they say . . . stand by.<\/p>\n

If you are cruising at 7500 feet at a nominal cruise speed if 100 knots, you can use a 300 fpm descent profile to get down.\u00a0 Planning that descent takes a little finesse that goes beyond just checking out the charts in the book.\u00ad\u00ad<\/p>\n

There are more reasons than one why a 300 fpm is beneficial.\u00a0 First, an easy descent provides my passengers the greatest comfort with regard to ear-popping pressure changes.\u00a0 Almost anyone can handle 300 fpm.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When it comes time for the descent, you need only adjust the elevator trim down slightly.\u00a0 You do not reduce the power.\u00a0 The airplane will accelerate slightly, but the more important part of the procedure is that power stays on the engine allowing for constant cylinder head temperatures.\u00a0 The big trick to this procedure is planning the point at which to start the descent.<\/p>\n

Assuming you want to be near pattern altitude about five miles from the airport to decelerate to pattern speed, your equation for let down planning will look something like this:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Forty-one miles away for the descent point is quite a distance.\u00a0 Keep in mind that is for an old, stodgy Cessna.\u00a0 If you fly something sportier such as an RV-7 or Mooney, look at the numbers for those airplanes that cruise roughly 180 knots, or three miles per minute.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

You can run the equation for different altitudes and airspeeds and the results are going to be typically surprising.\u00a0 It takes quite a bit of planning and real estate to get an airplane down from altitude.<\/p>\n

Instrument pilots are quick to point out that ATC expects pilots to descend \u201cas rapidly as possible\u201d to within 1,000 feet of the target altitude and then at 500 fpm.\u00a0 While this is true, there are ways \u201cto play the game\u201d so that you get what you want.\u00a0 The tool for this is \u201cpilot\u2019s discretion.\u201d<\/p>\n

At your predetermined descent point, simply request a descent at pilot\u2019s discretion.\u00a0 Once the controller grants the request, you can descend at 300 fpm to the limit altitude.\u00a0 You may get clearance all the way to your requested altitude, or not.\u00a0 If you are limited to a higher altitude than requested, simply give them a couple of minutes lead by requesting a further descent when you are 600 feet above the newly assigned altitude.\u00a0 Typically, controllers can work with pilots with these types of requests.<\/p>\n

By maintaining power and keeping engine temperatures constant, you can avoid costly trips to the maintenance hangar.\u00a0 More importantly, your passengers will thoroughly enjoy the ride.<\/p>\n

-30-<\/p>\n

\u00a9 2010 J. Clark<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Want to be one of those pilots your friends and family will always want to fly with?\u00a0 Want repeat customers all the time?\u00a0 How do you do that?\u00a0 Well, you have to be smooth and one area in which smoothest … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6],"tags":[639,942,1047,1291,1320,1647,1881,2656,2911,3034,564],"class_list":["post-425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-flight-instructing","category-flying-2","tag-being-smooth","tag-coming-down","tag-cruise-altitude","tag-enjoying-the-ride","tag-expensive-engine-repairs","tag-getting-the-airplane-down-from-altitude","tag-how-you-treat-your-airplane","tag-one-of-those-pilots","tag-proper-descent-planning","tag-repeat-customers","tag-shock-cooling"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=425"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3435,"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425\/revisions\/3435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joeclarksblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}