✈️ Aviation Brief — Issue #90
Weekly insights for student pilots and the instructors who train them.
THIS WEEK'S TOPIC
CA.IV.I — Precision Approach (Commercial Pilot ACS)
1. ACS STANDARDS SUMMARY
For CA.IV.I, the Commercial Pilot ACS requires you to conduct a published ILS (or GLS) approach to the published decision altitude. You must select and identify the correct navigation frequencies, brief the approach, and maintain published altitudes within ±100 feet, airspeed within ±10 knots, and heading within ±10° before the final approach fix. After the FAF, you must track the localizer and glideslope within three-quarter-scale deflection while configuring the aircraft on speed and on path. At the DA you must make a timely decision to continue to land or execute the published missed approach procedure while maintaining positive aircraft control throughout.
2. THREE COMMON STUDENT MISTAKES
- Waiting too long to configure the aircraft and slow to final approach speed, causing a steep pitch change and unstable glideslope capture.
- Making large, late corrections to the localizer instead of small, timely adjustments, which usually results in overshooting and chasing the needle.
- Failing to verbalize the DA and missed approach procedure before descent, leading to hesitation or altitude busts when the approach must be terminated at minimums.
3. CFI PRO TIP
Have the student brief the entire approach out loud—including the DA, the visual descent point, and the first step of the missed approach—before they ever start down from the FAF. This forces them to say the numbers and commit to a plan, which sharply reduces the “what do I do now?” moment at minimums.
4. SAFETY SPOTLIGHT
NTSB data consistently shows that unstabilized approaches are a leading factor in approach-and-landing accidents. Many of these occur when pilots continue below the DA without the runway environment clearly in sight, often because they were high or fast and tried to “salvage” the approach rather than going missed.
5. DID YOU KNOW
The ILS glideslope signal is designed to become progressively more sensitive as you get closer to the runway, which is why small corrections early on the approach prevent large, unstable maneuvers later.
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