Standard Procedures That Save Money and Shave Risk

If you operate a turbocharged Continental, you might want to emulate Cape Airs technique for managing speed on the ILS. They set the power and then use drag rather than power changes to control rate of descent. This includes dropping gear to get down to a non-precision approach MDA and then retracting it again for the level-off. Apparently some ex-airline types balk at this at first.

Key Takeaways:

• Cape Air utilizes a unique ILS approach technique for turbocharged Continental engines, focusing on drag (including gear changes) rather than power adjustments for descent, which contributes to an exceptional 2700-hour TBO, significantly exceeding the normal 1600 hours.
• The airline is upgrading its aircraft with WAAS GPS (Garmin GNS 430Ws) with FAA assistance, enabling benefits such as straight-in approaches, higher-angle GPS glide paths to avoid wake turbulence, and VFR arrivals in the database, enhancing overall safety and efficiency.

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