- Joined
- Oct 30, 2003
- Messages
- 18,363
- Location
- Santa Maria, California
- Aircraft
- Givens Predator
- Total Flight Time
- 2600+ in rotorcraft
Recently in a discussion about how to fly at a non-towered airport and avoid the flow of fixed wing traffic per AC 90-66B someone recommended flying at 500 feet above the ground closer to the runway so they can still glide to the runway if the engine goes quiet. They felt if they were five hundred feet above the ground and flew the downwind 1,500 feet out they could land on the runway if the engine went quiet with a three to one glide ratio. Being generous I will use 1,000 feet from the runway for the simple calculations.
Let me start by saying that you will be making people very nervous flying opposite direction just a thousand feet from the runway so I would not recommend it for that reason alone.
Practical test standards are plus or minus 100 feet so let’s imagine he is flying better than the PTS and is flying exactly 500 feet above the ground when the engine goes quiet.
With a three to one glide ratio he can glide 1,500 feet.
I have often read it typically takes four seconds to understand that you have a problem and make a decision to make an emergency landing. At 50kts indicated air speed that uses up about 332 feet of our glide and have about 1,168 feet before touching down.
Unfortunately our desired touchdown is not straight ahead. The steeper we turn the more energy we will use so we make a constant rate turn. Half of the circumference a 1,000 foot circle is 1,571 feet.
The other problem with being low in a gyroplane is it is hard for fixed wing pilots to see us because we don’t have wings and are lost in the ground clutter. On final when their nose is high it is difficult to see below them.
If something goes wrong and you are hit from behind both pilots in command are responsible for see and avoid so assuming there are any survivors they will have to answer to the FAA for their failure to see and avoid.
In my opinion landing on the taxiway at any non-towered airport I have flown into would be a very bad idea.
My recommendation based on my experience and judgment is to fly a closer pattern (1,500 feet from the runway centerline) at pattern altitude making a steep descent on final, touching down abeam a taxiway and quickly taxiing off the runway.
The simple math from 1,000 feet above the ground with a three to one glide ratio is 3,000 feet glide available minus 332 feet for decision making and 2,356 feet for the half circle of 1,500 feet for a total of 2,688 required. As long as they were flying to practical tests standards and were a minimum of 900 feet above the ground they could just make it.
I would love to read other workable opinions.
Let me start by saying that you will be making people very nervous flying opposite direction just a thousand feet from the runway so I would not recommend it for that reason alone.
Practical test standards are plus or minus 100 feet so let’s imagine he is flying better than the PTS and is flying exactly 500 feet above the ground when the engine goes quiet.
With a three to one glide ratio he can glide 1,500 feet.
I have often read it typically takes four seconds to understand that you have a problem and make a decision to make an emergency landing. At 50kts indicated air speed that uses up about 332 feet of our glide and have about 1,168 feet before touching down.
Unfortunately our desired touchdown is not straight ahead. The steeper we turn the more energy we will use so we make a constant rate turn. Half of the circumference a 1,000 foot circle is 1,571 feet.
The other problem with being low in a gyroplane is it is hard for fixed wing pilots to see us because we don’t have wings and are lost in the ground clutter. On final when their nose is high it is difficult to see below them.
If something goes wrong and you are hit from behind both pilots in command are responsible for see and avoid so assuming there are any survivors they will have to answer to the FAA for their failure to see and avoid.
In my opinion landing on the taxiway at any non-towered airport I have flown into would be a very bad idea.
My recommendation based on my experience and judgment is to fly a closer pattern (1,500 feet from the runway centerline) at pattern altitude making a steep descent on final, touching down abeam a taxiway and quickly taxiing off the runway.
The simple math from 1,000 feet above the ground with a three to one glide ratio is 3,000 feet glide available minus 332 feet for decision making and 2,356 feet for the half circle of 1,500 feet for a total of 2,688 required. As long as they were flying to practical tests standards and were a minimum of 900 feet above the ground they could just make it.
I would love to read other workable opinions.