Flight levels

[Kevin Rochon]

I live in St-Laurent right in between the two Dorval runway. I've seen a lot of plane go by in my life. My neighbor had a question which I wasn't 100% sure how to answer.

Are the plane big or small on the same level of approach? They don't look the same but I always taught that it was due to the size.


BTW I just saw I hit the 1000 post....yhey!!!

[PaulG-rc]

I live in St-Laurent right in between the two Dorval runway. I've seen a lot of plane go by in my life. My neighbor had a question which I wasn't 100% sure how to answer.

Are the plane big or small on the same level of approach? They don't look the same but I always taught that it was due to the size.


BTW I just saw I hit the 1000 post....yhey!!!

Here is the Arrival prodecures Kevin

Arrivals
Jets and twin-engine aircraft will be integrated into the IFR sequence by Terminal and advised to turn final at 3,000 feet or higher and to contact the Tower before the FAF.
Single-engine aircraft will be vectored over the following VFR entry points :
a) Lafontaine tunnel
b) 3 NM south of the Mercier Bridge
c) Highway13 Bridge (rivière des Milles-Îles)
d) Trans-Canada Bridge (l'Île aux Tourtes)
and a communication transfer will be completed to Montreal-Trudeau Tower before the aircraft reaches a VFR entry point at a minimum altitude of 2,500 feet.

[beto9]

Is obvious that learning to pilot a plane is the easy part. The procedural nightmare is something else...

[Kevin Rochon]

Ya isn't it Albert, but with all that said I see some start at 2500 feet and others at 3000 so I figure they are not all at the same level. Like yesterday I saw the A380 and Saturday a pair of F18 in formation and also saw a CL215 Green and red like the ones on Ice Pilots they all looked like at different heights.

[loflyer2001]

You Kevin living in St Laurent between rnwy 24L and 24R you are most
likely inside 5nm from rnwy thresholds. IFR A/C at that point are on the
ILS Glide Slope which is set at an angle of 2 1/2degrees from end of
rnwy...field elev.at that point is 117ft ASL. (There are all at same altitude
big or small) For other A/C on visual approaches (VFR DAYS)some will
fly in on the glide slope others maybe slightly higher all depending
where you want to touchdown to cut down on your taxiing run.

[Andre Germain]

Most aircraft are on a 3 degree glide slope (when using equipment that provides such information), but STOL aircraft are usually on 6 degree (7?) glide slope [Short TakeOff and Landing]. These last ones are Dash-8s, ATRs, SAAB 340 and the like, and are usually smaller. Is this perhaps what you've noticed? Civilian aircraft, certainly on VFR, won't follow usually such glideslopes (except for practice when not IFR).

The lower glide slope is easier on jets as they can count on balancing thrust with drag to nail the landing more easily, which by the way works great at the field too, and why EDFs are wonderful for approaches as there is plenty of drag to control the decent [the secret to great landings].

Hope that helped.

[Kevin Rochon]

Thanks guys for all the info.


I guess they look, from my backyard, at different levels because they are slightly and also not exactly in the same alignment.