CFI-to-CFI Newsletter - Volume 10 Issue 4 - 8

handling characteristics, and because jet engines
experience a lag when going from low power to
high power settings, good energy management
becomes extremely critical. If you let the airplane
get too slow, with a high sink rate, there simply
may not be enough altitude to recover.
STABILIZED APPROACHES AND RECOMMENDED
AIRCRAFT PROFILES

Energy management is accomplished by
flying a stabilized approach, and by using a
recommended profile for the aircraft you are
flying. Let's take the profile first.

Flying a profile is defined as using predetermined
power settings, and making incremental
configuration changes-such as flap and landing
gear settings-at specific points during the
approach. Established on the final approach
segment, you should be fully configured, meaning
the power is set, you have your final flap selection,
the landing gear is extended if it's retractable, and
the airplane trimmed for the appropriate speed.

Each aircraft will have a separate profile for a
visual approach, a precision instrument approach,
and a non-precision approach.

above the published minimums for the approach
you are flying. If not, immediately initiate a
missed approach.

Flying a profile helps you manage energy because
for a given power setting and configuration
(landing gear and flap setting), the airplane will
give you a predictable speed and rate of descent.
This is true whether you are flying a Cessna 150,
a Learjet, or a Boeing 777. The profile gives you a
baseline to start with. Then you only need to make
very minor corrections as needed.

AIMING POINT AND GLIDE PATH

A stabilized approach is defined as an approach
where you maintain a constant angle glide path
toward a predetermined aiming point on the
landing runway, at a constant approach speed,
descent rate, and configuration during the final
stages of an approach. In visual conditions, if
you are not stabilized by the time you are 500
feet above the touchdown point, go around. In
low visibility conditions where you are flying on
instruments, be stabilized no later than 500 feet

SOME PILOTS GET INTO THE HABIT OF AUTOMATICALLY ADDING 10 OR 20 KNOTS TO
THE RECOMMENDED APPROACH SPEED, PERHAPS BECAUSE OF FEAR OF STALLING.
ARBITRARILY ADDING EXTRA SPEED IS NOT GOOD ENERGY MANAGEMENT.

The aiming point is the point where the aircraft's
flight path will intersect the runway if you
were to fly into the ground without flaring. The
true aiming point will appear stationary in the
windshield as you approach. Points before the
true aiming point will appear to move down in
your field of view, and points beyond the true
aiming point will appear to move up. If the point
you are looking at appears to move, then this is
not the true aiming point. For instance, if you
are focused on a particular point on the runway
and it appears to move up in your field of view,
you will arrive short of that point. If it appears to
move down, you will arrive beyond that point.
The runway itself appears to be in the shape of
a trapezoid. If your glide path is at a constant
angle, this shape will not change-it simply
appears to grow larger. If you descend below the
proper glide path, the shape of the runway will
appear to shorten and become wider. If you move
above the proper glide path, the shape of the
runway will appear to get longer and narrower.
CFI-to-CFI Newsletter - Volume 10 Issue 4

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of CFI-to-CFI Newsletter - Volume 10 Issue 4
