AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - April 2019 - 18

WAYPOINTS

To minimums, really?

BY THOMAS B. HAINES
Editor in Chief

Tales from the glidepath

Editor in Chief
TOM HAINES

upgraded the panel
of his Beechcraft
Bonanza to a
Garmin GTN 750
in 2014.

18 | AOPA PILOT April 2019

LIKE IMPATIENTLY PUNCHING THE elevator button multiple times hoping for a faster response, we
checked the METAR for Massachusetts' Plymouth
Municipal Airport over and over again hoping for an
update-ideally, an update that the showed the ceiling
increasing from 200 feet to something closer to 500
feet. Minimums for the RNAV (GPS) 24 LPV approach
there are 446 feet. At nine miles, the visibility below the
clouds was not a factor on this midwinter day.
Meanwhile, the miles to go and the estimated
time enroute marched down smartly as a 30-knot tailwind propelled my Beechcraft Bonanza along at 200
knots groundspeed at 9,000 feet. AOPA Live Executive
Producer Warren Morningstar was in the left seat as we
considered options. We were on top in severe clear and a
smooth ride. Below were a few scattered clouds, but farther northeast, tenacious low clouds hugged the coast.
Our circuitous routing around the New York City airspace
had us passing directly over Providence, Rhode Island,
which was reporting marginal VFR-a safe bet should
we miss on the approach to Plymouth. We both agreed
that at the reported 200 feet, there was no sense in trying the approach.
The terminal aerodrome forecast (TAF) suggested
conditions at Plymouth would be marginal VFR by 11 a.m.
We had delayed our departure an hour already. With the
tailwind we would be arriving at Plymouth around 10:30
a.m. Yes, we could pull the throttle back, but, hey, how
often do you get a tailwind like that?
If we didn't see an improvement at Plymouth, we
agreed to land at Providence and wait awhile. However,
updated weather from the Providence controller
reported the ceiling at 300 feet. Progress. We decided
to give it a shot at Plymouth.
During the descent, we briefed the approach and
talked through the missed approach procedure as well
as the immediate action items when going missed. I
loaded the approach in the Garmin GTN 750, overlaying the approach procedure on the moving map, and
backed it up on the GNS 530. We both also had the
procedure displayed on our iPads. Morningstar set the
minimums reminder in the Garmin G500 at 450 feet,
as close to 446 as we could get.
Cleared for the approach, I activated the procedure in the GTN as we progressed toward the initial
approach fix at 2,000 feet msl, just skimming the cloud
tops. Morningstar requested one more check of the

automated weather at Plymouth. The ceiling was up to
400 feet. We just went from "unlikely" to "perhaps."
The glidepath marker descended out of the top
of the display right on schedule as we approached
BURRK intersection, where Morningstar put in
approach flaps and lowered the gear-and down we
went into the murk. The winds at 2,000 feet were out
of the northwest at about 22 knots, but on the ground
they were out of the west at about 12 knots. We anticipated some bumps on the way down and were not
disappointed. Morningstar did his best in the bumps to
anchor the green flightpath marker from the synthetic
vision to the end of the simulated runway while monitoring the HSI, speed, glidepath, and altitude.
I had found a frequency for the pilot-controlled
lighting in the U.S. chart supplement (airport/facility directory for us geezers) on my iPad, clicked the
mic more times than necessary to bring up the lights,
and then announced our position on the common traffic advisory frequency. My eyes were locked out the
window with an occasional glance over at the primary
flight display to monitor our progress. I crosschecked
our altitude at the intermediate fix-right at 780 feet.
Soon out of the corner of my eye I began to see the
ground out the side window.
Pilots all the time say they broke out "right at minimums" and you can't help but wonder-was it really
that low? Or, was it actually lower and perhaps they
cheated a little? With such a high decision altitude on
this approach-300 feet above the ground-one could
understand the temptation to cheat a little. I, however,
could not imagine descending below a more typical 200foot decision height without the airport in sight.
But on this day, no need to cheat. Just as the nice
Garmin lady said "Minimums, Minimums," I saw the
runway end identifier lights and called "runway in
sight, continue" to Morningstar.
"I've got it now," he said a couple of beats later, and a
few seconds after that we were on the runway, rolling past
an Eclipse jet waiting to take off at the nontowered airport.
As we exited the runway, I called Boston Approach
on the remote frequency and canceled our flight plan. A
minute later the Eclipse blasted off into the clag.
Just another day at a busy GA airport.
AOPA
EMAIL thomas.haines@aopa.org

@tomhaines29

AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - April 2019

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