Alphabet Challenge Leg 17 15AZ - KRAL

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Talan2000
Posts: 207
Joined: Mon Dec 15, 2014 8:59 pm
Location: McKinney, Texas, USA, Earth

Alphabet Challenge Leg 17 15AZ - KRAL

Post by Talan2000 »

Pilots,

So after hiking along some dirt roads and finding a Home Depot and a large truck with a small crane/lift, I winched the King Air out of the irrigation ditch and back onto the dirt strip. Don't worry it's a rental. Back to the west into the setting sun. http://peaware.pilotedge.net/flight.cfm?id=87235

The usual getting clearance from a non-towered field. And a pretty uneventful flight west. So I decided to get complacent. Well actually I didn't decide I just sorta oozed into it...

Lessons Learned:
Complacency/Lack of Focus/Behind the Airplane Planning the arrival into KRAL I saw that it was going to have to be a GPS approach into 27. Conveniently I happened to have a GPS. So far so good. I started really concentrating on the approach plate and had it set up in the GPS ready to go about 10 miles east of PSP motoring along at 200 KIAS. I was trying to figure out what exactly this GPS nomenclature means..."What the heck is LPV? I'd better take the most conservative numbers -- LNAV which is what I think I am anyway. What qualifies one's GPS as LNAV/VNAV? Dunno. And what's up with that FAT V 3.9 NM from the field. What does that mean? It's not a FAP or MAP...anyway, I was engrossed.

Apparently engrossed enough to just let the plane intersect PSP and motor west on it's assigned heading of 267 instead of altering to R260 for the airway. I don't really remember this happening which is a sure sign that I was definitely distracted. All my penguins were busy or falling into the water or running from polar bears drinking cokes or something...I was looking out the window at the airport directly below me and thinking I was 10 miles EAST of where I was (3 miles South) when I asked ATC to give me the 27 GPS into KRAL with IAF Banks. ATC replied, "Um yeah, I meant to call you. No way I can give you Banks you're on top of it AND 3 miles north of course..."

Radio silence on my end. Whaaaat? I had just looked at the GPS and seen ...what I now realized was distance to direct KRAL and THEN BANKS...this happens I think when one LOADS an approach - it tacks it on the end of the flight plan and you need to "remove the discontinuity"...I didn't (because I hadn't even been assigned it yet) and I think that's why I thought I was further East then I was...

It's hard to forensically reconstruct these screwups especially as I'm pretty tired when I make them much less try to remember them, but hopefully knowing WHY you did something wrong is as important as knowing WHAT you did wrong, and I sincerely hope these help those who follow along as I try to learn from my own mistakes. "And knowing is half the battle." Or somesuch...

Anyway, I said, ok forget about Banks, how about WENVA? Feeling very proud of myself...So I got that fix and chopped the throttle and commenced my customary high, fast, and late approach entry. Thanks to the King Air's wonderful flying attributes (read it will drop like a rock if you need it to). I got the approach under control on was on glide slope/glide path ..if any of those existed on this approach :)
KRAL RNAV GPS 27L.JPG
KRAL RNAV GPS 27L.JPG (135.29 KiB) Viewed 2818 times
Comms Gremlins: So remember the inability to raise LA Center last flight? Well it happened here... I helpfully prompted SOCAL -- um SOCAL, you want me to go to Tower at about 8 NM east of KRAL...Then 7 then..5.. then 4.5. Finally at about 4 miles out SOCAL pops up and tells me he's "Told ME three times to go to tower..." To which I respond, well" I've ASKED you Three times to go there". Tit for tat, take that :) Seriously though, it was stressful and I was going to switch to tower on my own in 2 milliseconds if I hadn't heard from SOCAL at last. I would even have landed NORDO if tower didn't respond. But these decisions had to be made REALLY fast as I was now 1.5 mile Final...

I asked ATC on the ground to go over the handoff problem. Both he and I had no IDEA what caused it. It wasn't a hardware problem on my end. I NEVER heard any calls from him in the radio void..and he never heard me..GREMLIN..

I'd appreciate feedback on my plan to land without comms if I couldn't get SOCAL or Tower AND feedback on switching to tower without handoff after lost comms with SOCAL. I don't think a missed approach would have helped the situation or been required. But I've been wrong before. Fire away.

May not complete a flight tonight -- I've discovered a mountain of IFR info and videos in the workshops to try to work through.

Todd
Peter Grey
Posts: 5716
Joined: Tue Oct 12, 2010 3:21 pm

Re: Alphabet Challenge Leg 17 15AZ - KRAL

Post by Peter Grey »

I was trying to figure out what exactly this GPS nomenclature means..."What the heck is LPV? I'd better take the most conservative numbers -- LNAV which is what I think I am anyway. What qualifies one's GPS as LNAV/VNAV? Dunno. And what's up with that FAT V 3.9 NM from the field. What does that mean? It's not a FAP or MAP...anyway, I was engrossed.
Ok, welcome to the world of GPS and RNAV approaches.

You were correct in using LNAV as I've yet to see a flight sim GPS that supports anything beyond LNAV+V (which is NOT LNAV/VNAV).

LNAV = Lateral Navigation = Horizontal guidance only. Or in other words a pure Non precision approach
LNAV+V = Laternal Navigation with advisory glideslope. LNAV with a "helpful" glideslope to make the descent to MDA easier. This mode will KILL if not used properly.
LNAV/VNAV = Lateral Navigation with vertical navigation. Old attempt to introduce a glideslope into GPS approaches. NOT generally used today.
LPV = Localizer Performance with Vertical Guidance. For all intents and purposes ILS using GPS equipment.
LP = LPV without the glideslope, or LNAV but more accurate

LP and LPV require WAAS equipment.

The fat V is a VDP. Here is what the AIM says about VDPs:
Visual descent points (VDPs) provide pilots with a reference for the optimal location to begin descent from the MDA, based on the designed vertical descent angle (VDA) for the approach procedure, assuming required visual references are available. Approaches without VDPs have not been assessed for terrain clearance below the MDA, and may not provide a clear vertical path to the runway at the normally expected descent angle. Therefore, pilots must be especially vigilant when descending below the MDA at locations without VDPs. This does not necessarily prevent flying the normal angle; it only means that obstacle clearance in the visual segment could be less and greater care should be exercised in looking for obstacles in the visual segment. Use of visual glide slope indicator (VGSI) systems can aid the pilot in determining if the aircraft is in a position to make the descent from the MDA. However, when the visibility is close to minimums, the VGSI may not be visible at the start descent point for a “normal” glidepath, due to its location down the runway
Peter Grey
PilotEdge Director of Quality Assurance and Operations
peter@pilotedge.net
flyingdrill
Posts: 271
Joined: Sun Jun 22, 2014 4:15 am

Re: Alphabet Challenge Leg 17 15AZ - KRAL

Post by flyingdrill »

Well, I had a much easier ride than Todd! In fact, Peter controlled me through all the frequency changes up to the Riverside Tower! Good job, Peter! I flew real weather this evening, but put the sim in the day-time, as I get a bit bored just looking at blackness. I love the X-Plane view from 13,000' over Palm Springs. As the weather was clear, I just had a visual approach to 27.


Todd, this business of loading or activating approaches on Garmin equipment, and then interfacing with the autopilot is something one just has to try and get one's head around (I hate that expression, but there you go!). The G1000 can throw you a few curve balls as well, which I'm sure others reading this will have experienced.
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