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What is emergency descent?
An emergency descent is a maneuver for descending as rapidly as possible to a lower altitude or to the ground for an emergency landing. [Figure 17-6]The need for this maneuver may result from an uncontrollable fire, a sudden loss of cabin pressurization, or any other situation demanding an immediate and rapid descent.
What controls the speed of an aircraft when descending or landing?
Air traffic control
Air traffic control directs the aircraft towards the airport by issuing a series of instructions to change heading (direction of flight), height and speed until the aircraft can begin its approach to the runway.
Why do airplanes over bank in the direction of steep turns?
They are characterized by noticeable G-loads, which grow rapidly with increasingly steeper bank angles. Many airplanes tend to over bank in the direction of steep turns because the outside wing travels faster than the inside wing, thus generating slightly greater lift (and greater induced drag, which requires corrective “rudder action”).
What causes an airplane to stall on the runway?
A fairly common cause of this type of accident is when a pilot overshoots the runway centerline during the turn from base to final and steepens the bank angle in order to “turn faster” to get back on final. Because the stall speed goes up, they can stall the airplane even though they normally never even come close at their current airspeed.
Why do we lose control of the airplane while turning?
Losing control of the airplane while turning is a causal factor cited in many accident reports. Therefore, knowing what controls our turns is an important, yet often overlooked, piece of information. Steady, level, coordinated turns occur when the vertical component of lift offsets the weight of the airplane.
What makes a airplane make a shallow turn?
They are characterized by slightly higher, yet relatively small G-loads. The inherent stability of many airplanes holds the bank constant. We start these turns just like shallow turns: aileron and rudder pressures together, back pressure on the yoke to curve the flight path.