Approach and Landing

            I will attempt to explain and show what pilots are using and looking at while flying an approaching and on landing. At the bottom of this page there is a video taken of a landing into Sydney Australia.

Aviation units

Height, Distance and Speed

Height is measured in feet in about 80% of the world. The rest use metrics. 500 ft equals about 152 metres.

Distance is measured in nautical miles. A nautical mile is equal to one minute of arc of Latitude. 2 nm is about 2.5 statute miles [sm] or about 3.7 Kilometres [km]

Speed is expressed as Knots. One “knot” is one nautical mile per hour. 100 kts = 115mph = 185 kph. The reason for nautical miles and knots is explained in Navigation.

Concorde

Standard Operating Procedures

Watch and listen how pilots work as a team. Cross checking each other constantly.

You will hear the pilots calling heights and cross checking each other

S.O.P.s

The "Radio Alt Alive" call is made automatically. This alerts pilots that they are 2,500 ft above ground.

Note how the PF calls for flaps settings. The PNF checks the speed and then selects the flaps, and then sets the new speed on the command airspeed bug. It is very proceedural.

An actual early morning approach into Sydney, Australia