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The cult of flying the whole final approach at the minimum speed

There seems to be a preoccupation in PPL training to do this.

They are telling someone with a C152 to fly the whole final leg at, say, 65kt.

A couple of problems with this. First, the serious one that you will be turning base to final at 65kt and it’s a good way to stall and spin. Second, if flying a B52-size circuit (another bit of bad but common teaching) then you are forcing a load of people behind you to also slow down, and often to speeds which are unsafe for their type. In practice, the better pilots behind you will just extend their downwind etc even further.

What really matters is (a) maintaining the “picture in the window” all the day down and (b) the speed at which you enter the flare.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

I think this is tied to the stabilised approach school where everything has to be set up miles out and it’s one straight gradient to landing.

If you’re concerned about runway length then you don’t want to be carrying a load of excess, but at most tarmac runways it’s not remotely an issue. So flying much faster down then slowing it up shouldn’t be beyond the wit of a pilot

Speed should be progressively reduced from speeds for:

Downwind
Base Leg
Final
Threshold

Excess speed (which will lead to an unstable approach) should not be required at any stage if the circuit is being flown to an appropriate distance

Many people fail to realise the aiming point – “picture” – can be made to look right with excess speed! Hence ASI needs to be a key part of the approach scan

One of the common errors I see on tests is candidates fail to initially hold the attitude when reducing power for the descent, they let the nose drop which keeps speed high or even increases, and the whole approach starts unstable

Posts are personal views only.
Oxfordshire, United Kingdom

Agree strongly with Peter. Aircraft Manual Approach Speed is a minimum speed. Over-the-threshold Speed is a max for short runways.
I posted a fast approach video on YT and linked it on this forum.

Maoraigh
EGPE, United Kingdom

Peter wrote:

They are telling someone with a C152 to fly the whole final leg at, say, 65kt.

A couple of problems with this. First, the serious one that you will be turning base to final at 65kt

Well, replacing 65kts by Vref, yes, that’s what I was taught. But one is faster on base, turns base, deploys the stage of flaps one will land with, and stabilises for one’s approach speed. 65kts for a C152 seems to be nearly 10kts above Vref

Last Edited by lionel at 08 Sep 19:41
ELLX

A couple of problems with this. First, the serious one that you will be turning base to final at 65kt and it’s a good way to stall and spin. Second, if flying a B52-size circuit (another bit of bad but common teaching) then you are forcing a load of people behind you to also slow down, and often

The final approach does not begin until after the base turn so what bearing does that have on the speed flown on the downwind and base legs?
Many people have forgotten that following a number of base turn stalls the AAIB recommended delaying the first stage of flap until the base leg where 2 stages are normally taken together, this marks the start of the slowdown from circuit speed to final approach speed whih is normally reached on application of land flap i.e the falp will wash away the last 5 knots to achieve the final approach speed, just less than a mile from the threshold.

We teach Vth+10 on final (with adjustments for gusty winds/weight). Speed at the stabilized approach decision gate (300ft agl vfr/500 imc) shall be +10/-5 from that speed.

Sweden

Meanwhile, the IR training often introduces exactly the opposite – flying the approach at cruising speeds because of jet traffic breathing down your neck…

LKBU (near Prague), Czech Republic

@Cttime Vth ???

Threshold speed.

Sweden
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