[elky] Re: [non] Flying
- From: Robert Adams <elcam84@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: elky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 6 Jan 2011 08:09:00 -0600
With that visibility it should have been an ILS landing
anyway. AS for diving to the runway that;s no biggie for the king air and
actually pretty common for where most of them fly into.
Happens allot to commercial traffic too. When we came in
from OKC after dropping the Magnum off with Mike... We were on the downwind
and I was looking down at the airport and we were high. Not a little but way
high. Did our base leg over the new Cowgirls stadium as usual but still way
high. We were 20-25* and more at times nose down with full spoilers out
trying to get down into the ILS. Finally got low enough and leveled out and
caught the ILS.
Controllers do funny things too. I know one and lots of good
stories.
Robert Adams
On Wed, Jan 5, 2011 at 8:57 AM, Jared Ryan <jryan@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I got to fly in my friend's King Air 200 last night. For those unfamiliar
> with it, here is a picture of a similar plane:
>
>
>
>
> This wasn't a necessary flight. The idea was that the King Air is not
> going to fly much for the next month, because its pilot is going to be in
> school to learn to fly a new jet, and he wanted to get the engines up to
> operating temperature, cycle the landing gear and flaps, and generally get
> the fluids moving and warmed up.
>
> Anyway, we took off from Houston Hobby Airport with a 500 ft. ceiling and
> flew down to Brazoria County, did a missed approach (on purpose) so the gear
> could be cycled down and back up, and flew back to Hobby. It should have
> been about 20 minutes in the air, total. Going back to Hobby is where the
> fun started.
>
> The approach controller brought us in too high and fast, and John and Clay
> waved off the approach before we even got very low. We circled around, and
> this time the controller tried to bring us in in front of a Southwest 737,
> which resulted in us having to dive, and at 500 ft., we still couldn't see
> the runway, and were going too fast. So the pilots again called off the
> approach, and during the climb-out, kinda told off the controller. "We want
> you to bring us out far enough that we can stabilize our descent and not
> have to dive to make the runway." Third time was the charm. We finally
> broke out of cloud at 280 ft. (!) - minimum for that airplane is 250 ft.
>
> Seeing the runway of a major airport like Hobby through the cockpit windows
> is a special treat that airline passengers just don't get. The lights at
> night are incredible, and each has a purpose.
>
> Almost as soon as we saw the runway, John started the flare, and we were
> down just past the threshold.
>
> He told me after they shut down and we'd tidied up the plane that he had
> not missed an approach in over two years and did two of them tonight because
> of a controller trying to be cute. He was pretty miffed. He also said that
> if conditions at Hobby had been as bad as they were when we landed, we
> wouldn't have taken off. Conditions at Hobby worsened while we were down at
> Brazoria County. We're pretty sure we were the next-to-last flight to land
> for a while last night.
>
> Anyway, it was very fun to ride on the King Air. It's a beautiful plane,
> and very comfortable, even in bumpy conditions. There are no squeaks or
> rattles, and the engine noise is not bad. Being a turboprop, it is a
> different sound from a jet airliner. That is the first time I can remember
> flying on a turboprop and only the third time I have flown in anything
> fixed-wing other than a 737.
>
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