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2 Answers

how to calculate obstacle clearance for c152

Asked by: 844 views Private Pilot, Student Pilot

Hello

I am trying to calculate obstacle clearance required for my flight performance on c152, knowing the obstacle is 650 feet and runway distance to obstacle is 6213 feet, roc is 700 feet per minute and speed is 65 knots, any idea i am clearing the obstacle with how many feet?

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2 Answers

  1. Best Answer


    LTCTerry on Dec 12, 2023

    How long will it take you to get to the obstacle? You know distance and speed. It’s just a time-speed-distance problem.

    How high will you climb in that amount of time? You know time and rate of climb. It’s just a time-speed-distance problem.

    Spitball – it’s a little over a mile. At 65kt it will take less than a minute to cover a mile. So you will climb less than 700 feet in less than a minute. Your obstacle is 650. These numbers make me think that I would probably hit the top of the obstacle unless I’m a test pilot flying a brand new 152 that could climb 700fpm… I’m not making that trip!

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  2. KDS on Dec 13, 2023

    To expand on LTC Terry’s excellent comment about the test pilot in the new airplane just a bit:

    I was involved in the aftermath of a fatal accident. The pilot loaded kids into his plane and took off from a rural grass runway and ALMOST made it. But almost wasn’t good enough and some kids died. With the kind of airplanes people fly themselves, there are so many variables that if there isn’t a wide margin, don’t do it and for goodness’ sake, don’t do it with passengers.

    In that particular accident he could have had someone put the kids in a car and drive them to a nearby airport and flown there solo and picked them up there. It was all very sad and very needless.

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