After the Asiana crash, some speculated that the pilots were attempting a slam dunk–style landing. In pilot jargon, this refers to approaching the airport at a higher-than-normal altitude and then quickly descending to get into a stable position prior to landing. "It largely depends on what airport you’re going into and what the airspace is looking like, but sometimes [air traffic control] will ask you to do a higher or short approach," says former airline captain Greg Zahornacky, an assistant professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. "It’s a higher descent rate from a higher altitude." The procedures followed during a slam dunk are the same as any other approach, Zahornacky says. Pilots select a good rate of descent that allows them time to deploy landing gear and flaps, and be stable at around 1000 feet of altitude. Pilots do not consider a slam dunk to be dangerous, though it is a bit more difficult than a standard arrival. Read more: Difficult Descent: 4 Tricky Kinds of Airplane Landings - Popular Mechanics Follow us: @PopMech on Twitter | popularmechanics on Facebook Visit us at PopularMechanics
Posted on: Wed, 21 Aug 2013 08:16:45 +0000
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