Circling approaches
Protected areas that grow with speed, approach categories, circling minimums, and the night trap -- on a real circling-only chart at Reno.
14 min read · Instrument approach systems
After this lesson you can
- Explain why a circling-only approach exists at all, and read the letter-suffix naming rule that marks one.
- Assign an aircraft to the correct approach category by speed, including when a faster circling speed forces a higher category than the aircraft is normally flown in.
- Describe the circling approach area, why its size depends on approach category, and the minimum obstacle clearance it guarantees.
- Explain why some circling minimums are annotated "not authorized at night."
Every approach in this module so far has ended with the runway already lined up dead ahead. A circling approach does not: it delivers the airplane to a point near the airport, in visual conditions, with the landing runway anywhere from slightly to significantly offset from the final approach course just flown. The pilot then has to maneuver, entirely by looking outside, to land on a runway the approach itself was never aimed at.
This lesson covers what makes a circling approach different: why some approaches are published as circling-only, how the FAA sizes the protected airspace around the airport for the maneuver, and the special hazards of flying it, on a real circling-only chart: VOR-D into Reno/Tahoe International (RNO), an approach that offers no straight-in minimums to any runway at all.
The rest of this lesson
- 1.Why VOR-D at Reno has no straight-in minimums
- 2.The circling approach category: speed decides the area, not the airplane
- 3.The circling approach area and its protection
- 4.Reading it on the chart: VOR-D, Reno/Tahoe International
- 5.Flying the circling maneuver
- 6.The night trap
These 6 sections, their figures, the checks along the way and the end-of-lesson quiz come with the IFR track. Paid once, yours for good.
Key terms
Try to recall each definition before turning the card.