Week 57: I could be forgiven for a lack of precision...

Now that we are getting to grips with the Airbus and how it handles, this week my group (there are four groups on EZMP03, i'm in group A with Chris and Matt) looked at some of the more complex approaches, flying into Manchester, East Midlands, Glasgow, Liverpool and Leeds, as well as operating the Airbus into large airports at night. For the most part (at least on the easyJet network) approaches are conducted using an Instrument Landing system (ILS) where the aircraft receives signals from ground facilities giving the pilot guidance on track and elevation. The pilot should be able to fly a stable approach and make corrections as necessary to keep the aircraft on the correct profile, with even minor errors indicated instantaneously. 

A more simple approach is the non-precision approach, where a beacon on or close to the airfield will give the pilot track guidance, and as they descend down final approach the procedure will state advisory altitudes ie. at 5 miles the aircraft should be at 1500 feet, at 4 miles 1200 feet etc. It is only by comparing the altimeter with the distance to go that working out if the aircraft is high or low is possible, which in itself rapidly increases the workload and makes the pilot flying's job more difficult. For the first couple I was slightly behind the aircraft (everything's happening quicker!), so gave myself a bit of a mountain to climb towards the back end of the approach, but once I gave myself a talking to I finally was ahead of the aircraft and flying to the required standard.

Ready to run on rwy 27 at Liverpool John Lennon

Sometimes an instrument approach to the runway of choice may not be suitable due to geographical constraints (like a wapping great mountain at the end of the runway), so in this circumstance the aircraft performs an instrument approach to the unrestricted runway, in an effort to break cloud and go visual with the runway/terrain. Once the pilot has positively identified the runway, they can perform what is known as a circling manoeuvre landing on the opposite end of the runway, remaining clear of cloud and maintaining visual contact with the airfield. Differently to a normal instrument approach where the aircraft is stable at 5-6 miles, the aircraft will still be turning towards the runway at 2-3 miles so energy management is of vital importance and the onus is on the pilot to stabilise the approach as early as possible. These procedures are fairly rare (fortunately!) but do exist so we had an opportunity to practice them at a few airfields, so we don't just rely on instruments and remember there are windows for a reason!

I'm now off until Tuesday so went for a wander today at the Itchen Valley country park, which somehow ended in a certain someone (Alice!) panicking because the cows were surrounding us, our route back to the car blocked by a slow moving, grass chewing collection of Frisians. Until next week, enjoy the view of my office........from now until retirement!