Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) has a popular program, which several students I met spoke highly of. It's located about 35 miles SE of Nashville, TN.
The speed of your approach, say 110K, nothing else, determines the minimums as given on the gov't plates. If you want to fly it at 140K, it's your business, but you'd better pick the right minimums!
Hey guys, better dust off the old AIM (now where did I leave my 2001 copy, anyway???). Better still, use the free online AIM courtesy of your taxes and FAA:
http://www1.faa.gov/atpubs/AIM/
It seems natural to base the minimums on how fast you're moving, not how slow your plane has to get to tumble, and that's how AIM puts it. Now, it is customary to slow down enough to see the runway through the soup even if you happen to blink at just the wrong time. So, why couldn't a pilot keep up 110-120 knots until the final approach fix, then slow to 90 knots? Here's the pertinent excerpt from
a. Minimums are specified for various aircraft approach categories based upon a value 1.3 times the stalling speed of the aircraft in the landing configuration at maximum certified gross landing weight. In 14 CFR Section 97.3(b) categories are listed as follows:
1. Category A: Speed less than 91 knots.
2. Category B: Speed 91 knots or more but less than 121 knots.
3. Category C: Speed 121 knots or more but less than 141 knots.
4. Category D: Speed 141 knots or more but less than 166 knots.
5. Category E: Speed 166 knots or more.
b. Aircraft approach categories are also discussed in the U.S. Terminal Procedures (commonly called approach plates), which states, among other things, that "An aircraft shall fit in only one category. If it is necessary to maneuver at speeds in excess of the upper limit of a speed range for a category, the minimums for the next higher category should be used." If it is necessary, while circling-to-land, to maneuver at speeds in excess of the upper limit of the speed range for each category, due to the possibility of extending the circling maneuver beyond the area for which obstruction clearance is provided, the circling minimum for the next higher approach category should be used. For example, an aircraft which falls in Category C, but is circling to land at a speed of 141 knots or higher should use the approach category "D" minimum when circling to land.
Personally I worry more about getting too slow, and pitched up too high, far more than I worry about excess speed carrying me outside the "protected area" on an instrument approach. I'd carry an extra 10-15 knots with little worry about much of anything except having to miss and try again, which isn't a bad idea if the field is hard to see at minimums anyway. If I'm at DH or MAP, or otherwise about to enter unprotected airspace, it's immediate missed approach: takeoff power, positive rate of climb, flaps up, gear up, get up, etc, all at a safe airspeed well above the 1.3 Vso number, which frankly, is too damn low for the real world.
I'm concerned about an inordinate number of very qualified people crashing perfectly airworthy planes on IFR approaches due to failure to maintain airspeed. Within the past 6 months, there have been two of these at Leesburg, VA alone. Now, I'm in total agreement that slow is better for actually landing, without porpoising and running off the other end of the runway (and in my slick Mooney, it's critical to keep it on the numbers, which are about 70 knots on short final), but I'm talking about 1.3Vso in the soup before visual runway contact has been made, especially on a very low approach, where the slightest combination of a tail gust with an inattentive tug back on the yoke would put the plane into an imminent stall on the backside of the power curve. The plane simply won't fly anymore when that happens, and it happens too d--- often.
http://www1.faa.gov/atpubs/AIM/
It seems natural to base the minimums on how fast you're moving, not how slow your plane has to get to tumble, and that's how AIM puts it. Now, it is customary to slow down enough to see the runway through the soup even if you happen to blink at just the wrong time. So, why couldn't a pilot keep up 110-120 knots until the final approach fix, then slow to 90 knots? Here's the pertinent excerpt from
http://www1.faa.gov/atpubs/AIM/Chap5/aim0504.html#5-4-7
5-4-7. Instrument Approach Procedures
a. Minimums are specified for various aircraft approach categories based upon a value 1.3 times the stalling speed of the aircraft in the landing configuration at maximum certified gross landing weight. In 14 CFR Section 97.3(b) categories are listed as follows:
1. Category A: Speed less than 91 knots.
2. Category B: Speed 91 knots or more but less than 121 knots.
3. Category C: Speed 121 knots or more but less than 141 knots.
4. Category D: Speed 141 knots or more but less than 166 knots.
5. Category E: Speed 166 knots or more.
b. Aircraft approach categories are also discussed in the U.S. Terminal Procedures (commonly called approach plates), which states, among other things, that "An aircraft shall fit in only one category. If it is necessary to maneuver at speeds in excess of the upper limit of a speed range for a category, the minimums for the next higher category should be used." If it is necessary, while circling-to-land, to maneuver at speeds in excess of the upper limit of the speed range for each category, due to the possibility of extending the circling maneuver beyond the area for which obstruction clearance is provided, the circling minimum for the next higher approach category should be used. For example, an aircraft which falls in Category C, but is circling to land at a speed of 141 knots or higher should use the approach category "D" minimum when circling to land.
I'm concerned about an inordinate number of very qualified people crashing perfectly airworthy planes on IFR approaches due to failure to maintain airspeed. Within the past 6 months, there have been two of these at Leesburg, VA alone. Now, I'm in total agreement that slow is better for actually landing, without porpoising and running off the other end of the runway (and in my slick Mooney, it's critical to keep it on the numbers, which are about 70 knots on short final), but I'm talking about 1.3Vso in the soup before visual runway contact has been made, especially on a very low approach, where the slightest combination of a tail gust with an inattentive tug back on the yoke would put the plane into an imminent stall on the backside of the power curve. The plane simply won't fly anymore when that happens, and it happens too d--- often.
Craig