Very steep RYR descent into Einn tonight

Comhrá

Spotted FR109 making a very steep descent into Shannon tonight. At one stage it was descending at over 4000 FPM - a few minutes before I took this screen-shot. I'd have thought the pax & crew would be experiencing near-weightlessness at that rate of drop???
Is that sort of steep descent very unusual in commercial airlines?



FL 400 over Dublin, descending into Shannon!

Priority Right

That's just above standard I'd say. You can go up to 6,000ft per minute if you really need to get it down fast. It's good craic. But you'll probably get a cabin pressure warning if you keep it up for long.

irishbloke77

Looking at the track that the aircraft is taking in the shot which shows the ryanair over the midlands, it would appear to be routing to a right downwind/base then finals for runway 06. This gives it extra mileage compared to using runway 24, about 25 extra track miles when coming from the Dublin direction. With all this in mind, FL400 over Dublin would be fine, sounds about right to look for descent just after Dublin for landing on runway 06 in shannon. As for 4000' per minute descent rate, a little higher than normal alright, but nothing that should cause an injuries etc...

Comhrá

it would appear to be routing to a right downwind/base then finals for runway 06.

Exactly what they did. The extra 25 miles made it look a bit less dramatic alright. It ws interesting to watch on Flightradar24. I never saw such a fast descent before.

A320

Why does that route over DUB anyway?? always wondered

Comhrá

I don't know but EIN never do that route from London to Shannon or Shannon London. They always seem to go over Strumble. RYR go over Dublin frequently when outbound from Shannon to London too.

Su Campu

These are the standard routes between Shannon and Standsted, as per the Standard Route Document. Looking at the upper winds this evening though the UL975 routing they took today would have given reduced headwinds than if they had taken the standard routes below, even if it added a few miles to it. The higher cruising altitude would also suggest this, as the strongest winds were in the low to mid FL300s, so FL400 was above them.

Cessna_Pilot

Perfectly normal.

McNulty737

4000 fpm is nothing....come back to me when you see one at 7000 fpm

omega man

McNulty737 wrote: »

4000 fpm is nothing....come back to me when you see one at 7000 fpm

AF447 descended at a rate of 10000 fpm, nose up attitude 15 degrees. Shiver

McNulty737

Yeah thats nasty, in a stalled configuration that is just so unnattural, like a big piece of metal falling out of the sky.

The most i've seen out of the 738 is 6500-7000 (for a few seconds), after winding the speed right back to minimum clean and then cranking it up to 320 ias with the speedbreak and lvl change. Passenger comfort isnt affected much, the pressurisation system maintains a very low rate of descent in the cabin, just the usual buffetting from the speed break and a big increase in the noise of the air whooshing over the plane

Not recommended to reach those rates of descent mainly due to the risk of RA's with other aircraft below....however sometimes in places like Italy ATC can keep you so ridiculously high and completely ruin your profile that you really have to get it down....once it stabilises at 320 indicated with the speedbreak expect 3-4000 fpm. Below 10,000' feet if youre still really high you need to start considering bring the speed back to around 220 and start taking some flaps and keep the spoilers out. Dropping the gear is another option but requesting some extra track miles is probably the more sensible option if youre still high at that point, instead of steaming in towards the airport....chief pilot is not a fan of high energy approaches

Cessna_Pilot

Bearcat wrote: »

Descent rates greater than 4000fpm (apart from emerg descents) especially from high altitudes in airliners really imposes on passenger comfort- you also are whole open for creating a tcas TA/RA

Most airlines will have an SOP to counter that threat, such as reducing vertical speed when approaching level off altitude. Plus airmanship should come into play too re decent rates with other traffic around.
In my day to day line flying we are regularly kept high, and once cleared to descend, wind the speed up and drop. Rarely use the speedbrake. Haven't had a TA/RA yet. Touches wood.

Bearcat

McNulty737 wrote: »

The most i've seen out of the 738 is 6500-7000 (for a few seconds), after winding the speed right back to minimum clean and then cranking it up to 320 ias with the speedbreak and lvl change. Passenger comfort isnt affected much,

McN...with respect, I doubt that.....as the passenger has his gin and t shoved in his face. Doing 7000fpm is not allowed on my watch unless for Emerg reason. One is whole open especially in busy airspace of getting and being responsible for TCAS TA's/RA's doing these descent rates.

McNulty737

With respect....I only saw it once in 3000 hours and with a massive drop in headwinds in the descent it can come on very quickly, for a very short duration. Anyway I agree it's not good airmanship and I always over ride with cws when approaching crazy rates of climb/descent.