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AviationEmergency descent
The examiner gives you a reason to get down fast, such as smoke, a depressurization or an engine fire: you set the speed and configuration from the handbook, descend in a 30 to 45 degree bank and level off at the altitude given. It is Task A of Area IX, Emergency Operations, in the FAA Private Pilot Airman Certification Standards, the checkride every private pilot flies.
Free to startThe steps
- Clear the area.
- Set and hold the airspeed and configuration for the examiner's scenario, as the Pilot's Operating Handbook or Airplane Flight Manual gives for the emergency descent.
- Keep your orientation, divide your attention and plan and fly a smooth recovery.
- Use a bank angle between 30 and 45 degrees to keep a positive load factor in the descent.
- Hold the right airspeed +0/-10 knots and level off at the specified altitude within 100 feet.
- Complete the appropriate checklists.
- Make radio calls as appropriate.
- Use single-pilot resource management, or crew resource management, as appropriate.
Safety rules that stop the station
- If any part of the maneuver would put the flight at risk, the examiner has you simulate that part.
- Any action, or lack of action, that makes the examiner step in to keep the flight safe is unsatisfactory.
- Not clearing the area with a proper visual scan before and during the maneuver is unsatisfactory.
- Consistently exceeding the tolerances of the task, or not correcting promptly when you exceed them, is unsatisfactory.
To pass
- The handbook speed and configuration, 30 to 45 degrees of bank, airspeed +0/-10 knots and the level-off within 100 feet of the altitude given.
- Know the situations that call for an emergency descent such as depressurization, smoke or an engine fire, the immediate action items, the airspeed limits, the airplane's performance and limits, and the risks of altitude, wind, terrain, obstructions and gliding distance, collision, configuring the airplane and distractions.
- Missing the standard on this task fails the task and its area of operation.
Official source
Federal · FAA Private Pilot ACS
Private Pilot for Airplane Category Airman Certification Standards (FAA-S-ACS-6C)
The FAA publishes the Private Pilot Airman Certification Standards free: every task of the checkride with its knowledge, risks and tolerances.
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