PilotEdge Forums

Hi All

I just got my CAT 8 and wanted to check if i could have done better.

I was cruising at 5,500
20 miles out, Socal Approach tells me "runway 8 straight in, stays clear of Van Nuys airspace"
at this point i check my charts and see Van Nuys airspace end at 3,000, i therefore start my descent to 3,000-3,200.
Van Nuys airspace stops (i suppose) when the burbank inner ring starts ? (so 5 miles out Burbank ?)
This leaves me with 2,000ft to descend within less than 5miles. that's way above the 500ft/min (3deg angle) recommended descent ?
i reduced my speed to around 80knts and tried to keep my straight in approach and landed correctly.

I wonder if there is best way to do or manoeuvre that "real" pilot will pull in these circonstances ?

Hope it's clear...

Thanks
Raphael

Not much else you can do but dive at a greater descent rate than 500 ft/min. The 5 mile ring is to the center of the airport, so it's actually about 4.4 miles to the threshold of RWY 8 and a drop of 2222 ft. So that's 500 ft/mile or 750 ft/min traveling at 90 knots . . . about a 5 degree glide slope. Certainly doable, but expect the PAPI's to be all white. It's either that or close an airport. Welcome to LA.

This can be easily observed by the airliners going into BUR’s runway 8 in the real world. You’ll watch them pitch down significantly right as they cross over VNY. Obviously they’re not worried about airspace, but SoCal will generally say something like “Cross Van Nuys at or above 3500, cleared visual approach runway 8.”

Thanks both for your answer !