Search results

I've had a few similar situations, and in some of them, when I finally got a word in edgewise, the controller said I should just turn at the fix onto the final approach course, without descending, until he clears me for the approach. I think some controllers expect that as default behavior...

My favorite Bond (Moore) helicopter scene:

All my experiences with the FAA have been good, over several decades. They have always been nice, cordial and helpful. Either I was very lucky, or that's a representation of the norm there. At one point I needed help from the Canadian "FAA" (for a ferry permit), and they were just as nice and...

I'll bite. Doesn't that violate some laws of physics, e.g. over a nice sharp peak?

Does a Mechanic's Lien apply to humans?

Wings off? Give a flight lesson!

I have been using Garmin Pilot Android on Nexus 7 tablets (one per yoke, both 2013) since 2013 or so. Reliability is quite good, though the app sometimes (maybe once every few flights) restarts spontaneously (but always remembers where it was, so it's normally a non-event since it resumes what...

This. A couple of years ago, I had a somewhat similar situation with ATC on an IFR approach in IMC to near minimums where there was apparent miscommunication regarding whether I got the intercept vector or not. I ended up calling the regional ATC QA person, who was extremely nice and helpful. I...

I can see their rationale. They decided that "altitude" is barometric MSL, whether on the GS or not, while "height" is a direct measurement of feet above TDZ (although it could be off before the runway). So from their perspective, everything non-RA is "non-precision", since it's based on a...

Maybe you mean DA? MDA is non-precision only, AFAIK. Or am I losing it?

I guess this is one of those situations where your avatar is very apt. :)

It might be ICAO, but it is part of the FAA's current official glossary. I agree that "above the ground" is somewhat contradictory to the glossary, in that the ground location is unspecified, given that for non radar altimeter equipped aircraft it has always meant "above the runway" (touchdown...

Sure, but I was addressing the part I bolded in dtuuri's post.

The current FAA glossary says:

Sounds right. I think the key here is the semantic difference between "Decision Height" and ""Minimum Descent Altitude". Government lawyers (and lawyers in general) use words carefully, so the question is (pre "Decision Altitude", which is a modern term) why make the distinction between "height"...

I am not referring to DA. That is clearly a new term, introduced a few years ago. I don't think that there is any doubt that DA = MSL altitude at DH. But I think I have this issue figured out. In the old days (as now for that matter), "DH" was the point in space where you were supposed to make...

Well, your example is clearly a "bug", as you seem to imply. Goes to show you, I guess. There is no bug in my memory, however. If you disagree, find one IFR rated pilot from the 70's (or earlier, I think Richard Collins started flying single pilot IFR in the 50's) on, who flies IFR/IMC to low...

No need to post, I trust you that it says that. So a government publication had a bug in it. But the bottom line is still that the definition that counts, in the FARs and AIM, as well as glossaries, has always been the same: Decision Height is the height above the threshold. I can assure you...

I had been flying by then several years of IFR, including many (single pilot) low approaches to minimums in pretty poor weather, and if there is one thing I focused on when sniffing for asphalt, it was the exact definition of "DH". I can assure you that that definition has not changed over the...

I've been flying IFR for decades, and I've never seen a definition of DH that is either AGL or MSL. It's always been, and is today, the height above threshold elevation in feet. Nothing to do with sea level. Anything to the contrary is just a mistake.