A320 HOME COCKPIT FOR SALE FULL
I later printed out his full flight plan. Now, if you pull up the POH for the Beechjet 400, its V LE-maximum landing gear extended speed-is 200 knots. Maintenance issue.” There was nothing in the remarks. I advised the pilot, who responded, “Yeah, we need to keep it down for the flight.
I suddenly noticed the Beechjet’s landing gear remained down. This jet sequence would normally give me more than enough room, as the lead jet accelerates to 250 knots. I cleared the Beechjet, waited until he rotated, and cleared the A320. One day in the tower, I had a Beechjet 400 ready for takeoff, and an Airbus A320 behind him. So, when a jet gets up and doesn’t go, it’s a nasty surprise. We depend on the “get up and go” performance of jets to build our required three miles of IFR separation.
If I’ve got a jet and a Cessna 206 ready for takeoff, I would launch the jet first and the Cessna close behind, knowing the jet will rapidly outrun the C206. That said, even without seeing the filed speed, towers and approach controls absolutely rely on speed to separate aircraft. If they’re an arrival, they’d be slowing to 250 knots as we descend them out of 10,000. A departing jet filed for 380 knots would only be hitting that speed once they’re climbing up into Center’s airspace. All aircraft are restricted to 250 knots below 10,000 feet. You know who doesn’t normally see your filed cruising speed? Towers and approach controls. Once you’re at cruising altitude and cruising speed, they ensure you’re not running over other aircraft, or are getting run over yourself. However, one field that displays for some controllers, but not others, is your filed airspeed. When flight plan strips print out in a radar room or tower, we’ll check for discrepancies and follow up if anything looks weird. Much of the information controllers rely on is readily available to them, such as filed altitudes and routes. How can pilots ensure an error of omission doesn’t put ATC in a tight spot? Hurry Up Slow What if you didn’t know a key piece of data was missing? For instance, how would you feel if the FSS briefer failed to mention your destination airport was NOTAMed closed? That makes for a frustrating experience, as you cobble together a new plan.Īs an air traffic controller now, I can say surprises aren’t welcome in the tower or radar room either. You take these disparate pieces and assemble them into what you hope will be a predictable, successful flight. To avoid them, you absorb data, whether it’s a preflight weather brief, the information on the ATIS, or what your instruments are telling you. Surprises in the cockpit aren’t generally good things.