Glidepath Lab

Binns Flight Services

The view from the left seat on final to Runway 7 at Orlando Executive (KORL), 6,004 × 150 ft, starting 0.5 to 0.75 NM out, about where a normal base-to-final turn puts you. Groundspeed is 70 knots.

The two questions

• Where am I? High, on, or low compared with a 3° glidepath to the aiming point (the big bars 1,000 ft down the runway, where the PAPI is). High makes the runway look taller and steeper. Low makes it look flat and squashed.
• Where am I headed? The point you're actually going to hit is the one spot that doesn't move in the windscreen. Short: the aiming point is rising in the windscreen. You're steeper than you need to be and will touch down before it (trending low). Long: the aiming point is sinking toward the nose. You're shallower than needed and will float past it (trending high). On target: it stays put. Your angle isn't changing, even if it's the wrong angle.

Modes

• Demo: choose the position and the trend and watch it play out. "On glidepath + Short" is the classic slow sink below the path.
• Quiz: a random approach plays for a few seconds, then freezes. The student picks low/on/high and short/on target/long, then you replay it with the answers shown. The PAPI is hidden during the question unless you turn it on.
• Fly it: drag up or down on the view (or use ↑/↓) to make the approach steeper or shallower and try to hold the picture.

Display options

Touchdown point marks where your current path meets the ground. Flight path marker shows the point you're moving toward, like a HUD. Zoom narrows the field of view, like zooming in Google Earth, so the shape changes are easier to see on a screen. Try the 75 ft runway to show the narrow-runway illusion: the same height looks higher.

The scenery is generic and only suggests the area around KORL. Keys: ↑/↓ (fly mode), Space pause, R restart.