start down the ramp, monitored by pilot

English translation: descending to land on the runway, monitored by ATC person (please see explanation)

23:52 Jan 16, 2008
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Art/Literary - Aerospace / Aviation / Space
English term or phrase: start down the ramp, monitored by pilot
"He flicked off the autopilot, which had been taking him around and around the same stupid patch of now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t North Carolina farmland for far too long, and grabbed a handful of wheel. No cotton down there, high or otherwise, that he could see. Just a bunch of used-up tobacco patches now overgrown with kudzu. Dees was happy to point his plane’s nose toward Wilmington and start down the ramp, monitored by pilot, ATC, and tower, for the ILS approach?”

Who (or what) is 'pilot' here? Is it Dees himself? Does starting down the ramp mean "descend" here, or has it some special meaning?
Alex Linosh
Selected answer:descending to land on the runway, monitored by ATC person (please see explanation)
Explanation:

start down the ramp = he's descending to land on the runway at the Wilmington Airport and he's being vectored in by ATC (Air Traffic Control) for the final approach.

I think "being monitored by pilot" is strange. He'd be vectored in by an air traffic control person. (Unless maybe a pilot down below was also monitoring Dees landing).

The ILS approach = Instrument Landing System. Lights just guide you right down the runway at the exact angle of approach.

Selected response from:

Joyce A
Thailand
Local time: 18:19
Grading comment
Thanks, everybody! The description of an ILS approach was useful. Yet Dees wasn't being thought for sure, and there wasn't a pilot down below. So «monitored by pilot" still sounds strange to me. Ken Cox is perhaps right.
3 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4Dee was a student and had the pilot accompanying her
jccantrell
4descending to land on the runway, monitored by ATC person (please see explanation)
Joyce A


Discussion entries: 2





  

Answers


27 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
Dee was a student and had the pilot accompanying her


Explanation:
I would understand this to mean she was being taught how to land the plane.

In an ILS approach, your instruments essentially give you a box in which you fly the plane. The box, if you could see it, is like a rectangular chute from where the plane is down to the landing field. That is what I take to mean by 'the ramp'

jccantrell
United States
Local time: 04:19
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 8
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3 days 9 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
descending to land on the runway, monitored by ATC person (please see explanation)


Explanation:

start down the ramp = he's descending to land on the runway at the Wilmington Airport and he's being vectored in by ATC (Air Traffic Control) for the final approach.

I think "being monitored by pilot" is strange. He'd be vectored in by an air traffic control person. (Unless maybe a pilot down below was also monitoring Dees landing).

The ILS approach = Instrument Landing System. Lights just guide you right down the runway at the exact angle of approach.



Joyce A
Thailand
Local time: 18:19
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 3
Grading comment
Thanks, everybody! The description of an ILS approach was useful. Yet Dees wasn't being thought for sure, and there wasn't a pilot down below. So «monitored by pilot" still sounds strange to me. Ken Cox is perhaps right.
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)



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