{"id":2072,"date":"2013-07-26T14:49:32","date_gmt":"2013-07-26T21:49:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.mechadigital.net\/?p=2072"},"modified":"2021-08-26T20:37:58","modified_gmt":"2021-08-26T20:37:58","slug":"73-descending-too-soon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/73-descending-too-soon\/","title":{"rendered":"# 73 Descending Too Soon"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Wolfgang Langewiesche said in \u201cStick and Rudder\u201d, \u201cAltitude is money in the bank, but airspeed is money in your pocket\u201d.\u00a0 That\u2019s why I stress gaining speed in ground effect when we\u2019re taking off.\u00a0 But that\u2019s not what concerned me when I thought about the title of this little article.<\/p>\n

\"DSCN1977\"<\/a>
“Does that engine sound a bit rough to you?”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was altitude as \u201cmoney in the bank\u201d that was concerning me. \u00a0I was wondering why so many pilots are in such a big hurry to squander that altitude.\u00a0 Altitude represents safety if the fan quits.\u00a0 The higher you are, the more time you have before you glide to the ground and the further you can glide before you have to put it down.\u00a0 It also represents stored energy.\u00a0 It can be converted to airspeed and time saved.<\/p>\n

When we\u2019re returning to our home airport in Sisters, Oregon, we often have to cross some places where I\u2019d just as soon not have to land.\u00a0 So why do so many pilots want to start that descent so far out?\u00a0 And why do they want to reduce the power below cruise to do so?\u00a0 All that does is increase the time to their destination and decrease the amount of energy stored for later use.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what I\u2019d really like to see.\u00a0 And I\u2019d like to know if you think that what I\u2019m saying makes sense:\u00a0 By maintaining a cruise altitude longer, we also maintain a margin of safety that\u2019s just not there anymore if we begin a long descent many miles out.\u00a0 I like to see my students maintain their altitude as they head for home.\u00a0 I like them to do some rough mental calculations that will enable them to stay high longer, then eventually use \u201ccruise descent\u201d to intercept the power-off glide path from which they can safely reach the airport.\u00a0 And if they figure it right, their descent rate will never be higher than 500 feet per minute.\u00a0 That\u2019s my magic descent rate.\u00a0 It\u2019s one that will not bother the normal person\u2019s ears as they experience the change of pressure in a descent.<\/p>\n

All my students hear me say the same things.\u00a0 One of them is, \u201cWhere ya gonna go if your engine quits now?\u201d\u00a0 Every pilot should know the answer to that question at all times[1]<\/a>.\u00a0 And that\u2019s the question that will receive a reassuring answer if you\u2019ve got plenty of altitude before you can reach your destination.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Happy Swooping!<\/p>\n

Brian<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
\n
\n

[1]<\/a> Read \u201cThe Exposurometer\u201d in \u201cBrian\u2019s Flying Book\u201d, available at the Tailwheeler\u2019s Mercantile.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“All my students hear me say the same things. One of them is, ‘Where ya gonna go if your engine quits now?’ “<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":691,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[35,58,67,110,173],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2072"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2072\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}