Aviation & Aeronautics
Basic

3-Degree Descent Rate

On a standard 3° glide path, required descent rate (fpm) is roughly ground speed (kt) times 5.

Formula

ROD≈GS×5ROD \approx GS \times 5

Variables

RODRate of descent (fpm)
GSGround speed (kt)

Example

GS 120 kt: ROD ≈ 600 fpm

Did You Know?

The standard 3° glidepath gives a comfortable descent — pilots multiply groundspeed by 5 for the feet-per-minute rate.

descentapproachglide path