I presented a webinar recently about techniques for flying stabilized approaches. During the question-and-answer period, one of the viewers asked me for a technique for flying a traditional non-precision approach profile, that is, a steep descent from the final approach fix (FAF) to leveling off at the minimum descent altitude (MDA) and flying level until reaching the missed approach point (MAP). I answered the question with recommended pitch attitudes, power settings, airplane configurations and airspeeds appropriate to his airplane type for the old-school “dive and drive”-style approach.
The next morning, I opened my email to find a long missive from another webinar viewer, taking me to task for describing this “unsafe” descent profile. After all, the viewer wrote, the FAA now calls for a constant angle, constant-rate descent from the FAF to the MAP—a stabilized approach—even on an approach procedure that does not include an electronic glidepath. I answered that person’s question as well, and thought it worthwhile to delve deeper into the skills and procedures needed to fly a stabilized, non-precision approach.
