I just love to watch high speed passes. I don't think that there is anything more exciting. Of course, I also love to watch hydroplane races, which I believe to be much more dangerous than low passes over the runway.

Now for the question of high speed. Exactly what is high speed? I was invited to sit on the end of the runway at Mc Guire AFB one day with a colonel bringing in a flight of F-105s. I could hear ATC calling slow moving traffic at 12 o'clock 2 miles and then 1 mile. I was thinking that could be me trolling around the New Jersey countryside in a C-152. How fast were the F-105s going? If I recall correctly, ailerons were not to be used below 300 (or was it 350) kts for fear of snap rolls, rudders only below that speed. ATC did call one time and ask for the speed to be reduced to below 250 kts. The response was that their request could not be complied with. Touch down speed that day was 220 kts, drag chutes came out at 180 kts and brakes could be used below 120 kts and all 10,000 feet of the runway was used. Was that fast? What is Fast?

Lets not confuse what George Shattuck does as a flyby. He is doing an overhead approach. Overhead approaches are a standard approach as are missed approaches. Just like the 45 degree entry is a standard approach. I don't do overhead approaches very often because of other traffic and some pilot attitudes but I think that it is a much safer approach than a 45 degree entry. I wish that civilian airports would adopt the overhead approach as THE standard approach. It is easy to calculate the approach angle. The aircraft is always in gliding distance of the runway. It is easy to know when to turn.

Now that we know that the overhead approach is safe. At what altitude should we do it? I think that a little below pattern is a good answer because the climb allows us to slow to pattern speed in the 180 to downwind. Now are we doing a high speed pass or just slowing from cruise to approach over the airport? I think that it is a hard question to answer and not at all as simple as saying that any speed over 120 kts near an airport is unsafe.

When I do an overhead approach, I descend to 1,000 ft AGL, on the turn, I climb to 1,500 ft AGL. 1,500 ft is my standard pattern entry. This also helps me avoid, if I did not see it, any slow moving traffic in the pattern at 1,000 ft.

What good since rules or even FAA rules, for that matter, am I, or anyone doing the standard overhead approach, violating?

After reading my writing above, I have convinced myself to do overhead approaches whenever possible. I am starting today.

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Lorn H. 'Feathers' Olsen, MAA, DynaComm, Corp.
248-345-0500, mailto:lorn@dynacomm.ws
LNC2, O-320-D1F, 1,100 hrs, N31161, Y47, SE Michigan