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Chapter-9 Approaching to Land-V20_Sport Pilot Handbook 8/30/2021 4:40 PM Page 23

Chapter 9: Approaching to Land 9-23

keep etched in that steel-trap memory of yours. If the trapezoidal shape isn’t similar what you re-
member (or what common sense suggests that it should be), then you probably need to modify the
glidepath angle you use to reach the desired landing spot.
You’re Too Low on Final
For instance, if you turn onto final approach and notice that the thresholds appear too close to-
gether (as when you were four inches above the dinner table), then you know you’re at a lower than
normal altitude on final approach (Figure 25, positions A and B). You certainly don’t want to continue
descending at your previous rate because you might be flying dangerously close to the surface or
land short of the runway. The best way to handle this problem is to add additional power to reduce
the descent rate (or perhaps decrease it to zero temporarily) and simultaneously raise the nose
slightly to maintain the correct approach speed (Figure 25, positions C and D).

As both ends of the runway begin to move farther apart from each other, they’ll eventually reach
the distance you recall as the separation for a normal glidepath (Figure 25, positions E and F). At
this point, you would reduce power to flight idle and resume a descent at 1.3 Vs toward the desired
landing spot using the stationary spot method discussed previously. This places you in a position to
fly a normal glidepath on final approach.

F Runway shape with a Too Low, Must Return to Normal Glidepath
normal glidepath
A Glidepath too shallow &
leading you to a place
short of the runway

D
Shallower glidepath
resulting from an
increase in power *Glidepath angles visually exaggerated

B Runway appearance with
a shallow glidepath or
below a normal glidepath

C
Add power
to reduce
E descent rate
Normal temporarily
glidepath

Fig. 25

The glidepath at position A is taking the airplane to a landing spot
short of the runway. The compressed trapezoidal shape of the
runway (position B) indicates that you need to increase power
(position C) to temporarily reduce the descent rate, thereby
shallowing out the glidepath (position D). This allows you to
reach a point where you can reduce power and fly a normal,
power-off glidepath to the desired landing spot (position E). In
the absence of a VASI indication, you can use the trapezoidal
shape of the runway (position F) to help you identify when to
begin your normal, power-off descent to the runway for landing.