The Rifle Sight Technique for a Constant Angle Approach to a Pinnacle or Ridgeline
The first component of a stabilized approach is a constant angle. Without a constant angle, pilots cannot achieve the progressive power application necessary for assessing and executing astute power management. An inconsistent approach angle results in varied power demands, higher pilot workload, and lower pilot situational awareness.
Because approaches to a pinnacle and ridgeline are often too high above surrounding terrain to make ground cues useful, pilots should employ the “rifle sight” technique, an effective method for maintaining a constant angle in pinnacle and ridgeline approaches. The rifle sight technique involves aligning a sight in the foreground (rear sight) with a sight in the background (front sight), and by maintaining this alignment between the two objects, it ensures zero relative motion is achieved.
To harness the “rifle sight” to achieve a constant angle approach, once established on the appropriate approach angle, draw an imaginary line from your eye to the pinnacle or ridgeline landing zone, and select an object directly in the background (rock, specific vegetation, small clearing, etc.) as your “front sight”. The established landing zone is your “rear sight”. When the object (front sight) moves below the landing zone (rear sight), the aircraft has descended below the approach angle, and when the object moves above the landing zone, the aircraft is above the approach angle. A consistent angle, or the alignment of both the front and rear sights, freezes the object just above the landing zone. At approximately 100’ above the intended landing zone, you need to abandon the rifle sight method and fly the seat of the aircraft to the intended point of landing because maintaining the rifle sight too long terminates the approach short of the intended landing zone.
If the rifle sight technique is difficult to perceive, stand a body length from the top of a chair backrest (this is a simulated ridge line), select a spot on the floor just above the back of the chair (this is your object), bend you knees and watch the object disappear behind the chair back (approach angle flattening), stand on your toes and watch the object move above the chair back (approach angle steepening).
