One day when I was talking to Point Mugu Approach we had the following exchange:
Point Mugu Approach: “CUP567, question for you if you have a moment. In how many miles could you dump a couple thousand feet? Just curious. I have a trainee here arguing with me and I want to prove a point.”
CUP567: “I’d say you could drop a few thousand feet in five to seven miles.”
Point Mugu Approach: “You just bought me lunch. I appreciate it.”
Stan Levy
Arcadia, California
Huh?
What he said ^^^
You could slip it down a lot faster than that and if you don’t mind the G-force, you could spin it down.
My thoughts exactly.
IF you have to, you can make if very short (1/4 mile spiral — couple hundred feet spin) —- or, you can make it over a couple thousand miles
😂😂😂
Kinda depends on what you’re flying, y’all.
Think gross weight and airspeed.
And airframe limits…
It’s not about physics, or aerodynamics, or airframe limits. The real meaning of that question was “how quick of a descent can I [ATC] assign before you [pilot of CUP567] reply ‘unable’?”
ATC expects a descent at 500 feet per minute. So flying at 120 knots indicated, it would take about 8 miles to descend 2000 feet. 4 minutes to lose 2 thousand feet (at 500 feet per minute) equals 8 miles at 2 mile per minute. Distance will vary with speed.