Short Final: ‘A Long Way Down’
Some patterns are more ‘three-dimensional’ than others.
Credit: Mark Pasqualino
I once had the opportunity to fly my vintage V-tail Bonanza to Washington-Dulles International Airport to report on the opening of a Signature Flight Support facility there. So, you can tell this was a long time ago.
I can’t remember if I had filed IFR, but the weather was perfect, so maybe I was on VFR Flight Following. In any event, with winds from the north, Approach vectored me to a crosswind to downwind for Runway 01R, which was convenient for the GA ramp at the north end.
What was concerning to me was, despite requests for “lower,” they held me at 3,000 feet until I was abeam the numbers for the landing runway, then proclaimed that I was “clear to land, Runway 01R.” Noting a field elevation all of 312 feet, I said, “That’s a long way down.” The controller responded, “Roger.”
Older Bonanzas have a relatively low gear-extension speed, so I had to choose between high-speed diving like an Eagle tracking a rainbow trout or staying high and slow enough to extend the gear for a Stuka approach. I chose the latter, but to keep from shock-cooling the old Continental E225, I still extended the downwind leg far enough that I think my next contact would have been Miami Approach.
