help with descent

when approaching the runway in the cessna 152 (or any plane) how do i know when to start my decent, i seem to be going down very late. is there any indicators on the instruments to tell me ?.

when approaching the runway in the cessna 152 (or any plane) how do i know when to start my decent, i seem to be going down very late. is there any indicators on the instruments to tell me ?.

Most airports will have PAPI lights to guide you down. (Precision approach path indicator).

 

These are 4 lights in a row at the end of the runway. If they show 4 white you are too high, 4 red and you are too low. 2 white and 2 red you are at the correct height.

 

Try to keep them 2 and 2 all the way down.

 

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I should also say that the approach is around 300ft per minute on your glide slope indicator.

 

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thankyou stinger, i will have a look for the lights when i do another flight tonight. and also look at the glide slope indicator. iam learning all the time so i will get there..

Also, particularly with jets and airliners, when you generate a flight plan, many programs will calculate top of descent, which will appear on the plan, and should show as a dot on the magenta flight path.

For General Aviation Aircraft use this simple rule.

 

Say you are at 5000ft Mean Sea Level and the Airport you are trying to land at is 800ft Mean Sea Level then:

 

5000ft - 800ft = 4200ft Then

 

4200ft x 3 = 12,600ft Then

 

12,600ft / 1000 = 12.6

 

You begin to Descent 12.6 Nautical Miles out.

 

Generally - POWER IDLE and trim the air plane to 90 knots and you should get a nice 500ft / minute

 

Play around with this and you will find what works best and you will nail it every time.

Edited September 23, 2020 by BushPilot

If its Cub or small GA and a non-ATC airport calculate to be at 1000FT in Initial leg descending to 500ft, be at 500ft on base, maintain visual from runway and get into final at about half a mile, throttle to idle, flaps, carb heat if needed and glide to the runway :)