ND - on final approach it's like the range increases although the range dial hasn't been touched
Hi,
In the last few miles of final approach, what I can see on the ND decreases in size, as if I have turned the dial to increase the range on the ND, although I haven't. If I then turn the dial to increase the range, then turn to decrease it again, the size of what I can see increases for a few seconds, then decreases again.
Is this normal, and what the aircraft is meant to do, and if so, why? I would have thought the closer you are to the runway the more important it is to see where you are in relation to it on the ND, rather than the image shinking to something that tells you next to nothing.
If I am doing something wrong, how do I stop this happening? I have attached 2 photos. The one with the smaller info on the ND, is before I increased, then decreased the range again. You can see the range selector is in the same position although the images are a only a couple of seconds apart. A few seconds after these images the image then shrinks again so I can't see the runway at all on the ND.
Thanks.
Comments
The images won't upload for some reason. I hope some people familiar with the aircraft will understand what I am asking.
What you are experiencing is a normal operation for the Q400 MFD. It automatically
increases the range from 5nm, to 20nm when the aircraft descends below a certain altitude,1000'AGL, I believe, during an approach. The actual AGL numbers, as well as Bombardiers reasons for doing it, can be found in the owners manual.
cheers, Jax