The training session on regulations had numbed our senses, so the chief pilot posed a question to get us thinking. I don’t remember the exact wording, but it was something like: “Is it ever legal to descend below decision height without the required visual references in sight?”
The answer is yes: If you decide to go around upon reaching decision height because you don’t see what you need to see, the airplane most likely will descend below DH while you’re cobbing the power, cleaning up and otherwise getting out of Dodge.
Perfectly legal. That’s why it’s called decision height.
Here’s a question for you: What is takeoff decision speed?
If you responded that it’s an old, discarded definition of V1, you’re right.
If, however, you said that it is V1, put on the dunce cap and go to the corner with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, the…
