| has gloss | eng: A descent during air travel is any portion where an aircraft decreases altitude, and is the opposite of an ascent or climb. Descents are an essential component of an approach to landing. Other intentional descents might be to avoid traffic, poor flight conditions (turbulence, icing conditions, or bad weather), clouds (particularly under visual flight rules), to see something lower, to enter warmer air (see adiabatic lapse rate), or to take advantage of wind direction of a different altitude, particularly with balloons. As well what may require an aircraft descent is during emergencies, such as a sudden decompression forcing an emergency descent to below 10,000ft, the maximum safe altitude for an unpressurized aircraft. An example of this is Aloha Flight 243. Involuntarily descent might occur from a decrease in power, lift (wing icing), an increase in drag, or flying in an air mass moving downward, such as a terrain induced downdraft, rotor, near a thunderstorm, in a downburst or microburst. |
