Shock Cooling

[kgbpost]

Would you care to elaborate? What strategy do you recommend for those of us who don't have spoilers what to do when ATC demands you down and you don't want to exceed speeds? Or like you say coming into a valley where you need a steep descent. I realize you give a whole course about this but can you summarize the strategy for avoiding shock cooling/overspeeding and descending all at the same time?

Sure. In the case of an approach into Aspen if crossing Red Table at 12,500 you are less than 1000 agl so you can't establish radio contact with the tower until that point, at which often times the tower will clear you for the visual to 15. At this point you are roughly 12 miles from the threshold and over four thousand feet above the airport elevation...which requires a descent rate well in excess of 1000 fpm to be able to make the descent and slow to Vref and execute a normal landing. On most days this would require a rapid power reduction and increase in airspeed to make it. 

 

Ideally what I wanted top see was the pilot anticipate this descent and begin to slow and dirty up before/as reaching DBL. I was often surprised too see folks get taken completely by surprise on this one. But that in itself wasn't a bust. If the pilot did get him/herself caught high, I wanted to see him/her come up with a solution other than just chop (rapid power reduction to idle/prop drive engine) and push the nose over to VNE. Tower controllers can be terse and impatient. Often times they have jet traffic coming down the valley and they don't want us little guys getting in the way. What I want to see is the PIC exercise command authority and tell the tower that S-turns, a 360, or maneuvering is required to make the descent at this point. Its basically an admission that 'I screwed up by not planning effectively, but I'm not going to exceed the limitations of my aircraft, so help me out a little'. You may have a tailwind coming off the Mesa, you may find some strong updrafts hindering your ability to descend. It happens. Finding oneself on a one-mile final with a shock cooled engine and too high to make it with a Learjet 2 miles in trail is the scenario I wanted to help them avoid. Because now were in a situation of having to perform a go-around with rapidly rising terrain with an engine we've just abused. Make sense?

 

I once had a guy in a fixed gear 182 on the very same checkout i just described... He big-time forward slipped the airplane almost all the way down, but he made incremental power reductions, never went below 15" MP, caught the profile from above, remembered his GUMPPS, and made a safe landing in the touchdown zone...we taxied to the ramp and shut down and he said "Man I really got hung out to dry there, that was really sloppy wasn't it?" My reply was "I loved it, you Pass, lets go get a hamburger." Brian

[jetdriven]

A Mooney descends like a crowbar with full flaps and gear down at 18" of MP. I bet you could do the approach into aspen like that

[kgbpost]

A Mooney descends like a crowbar with full flaps and gear down at 18" of MP. I bet you could do the approach into aspen like that

You bet. In the bravo you can even speed back to up 165 KIAS once the gear is extended. Is it sloppy airmanship to drop the gear 13 miles out?...not in this case.