VOR approaches

Flying a course off a ground station with no vertical guidance -- an on-field VOR at Nantucket and an off-field VOR at Hyannis, both on real charts.

15 min read · Instrument approach systems

After this lesson you can

  • Explain why a VOR approach is flown to an MDA rather than a DA, and what that means for how the descent is built.
  • Describe the difference between an on-field VOR and an off-field VOR approach, and locate the final approach fix on each.
  • Read the FAF-to-MAP timing table on a VOR chart and use it when no distance-measuring fix is available.
  • Compare category minimums for a straight-in and a circling line on the same VOR chart.

The VOR approach is the ancestor of every non-precision approach in the system: a lateral course flown off a ground station, an altitude floor, and no vertical guidance at all. Everything the ILS did for you automatically -- telling you when to start down, how fast, and exactly when to decide -- the VOR approach leaves for the pilot to build.

That is what makes it a good teaching tool. This lesson works through two real VOR/DME approaches in southeastern New England: VOR RWY 24 into Nantucket (ACK), where the VOR sits right on the airport, and VOR RWY 6 into Hyannis (HYA), where the VOR is off the field at Martha's Vineyard and the whole approach structure is built from DME distances off it.

The rest of this lesson

  1. 1.A VOR approach in outline
  2. 2.MDA: a floor you level off at, not a point you decide at
  3. 3.When the VOR sits on the airport: VOR RWY 24, Nantucket
  4. 4.When the VOR sits off the field: VOR RWY 6, Hyannis
  5. 5.Timing the final segment without a distance fix
  6. 6.What the two charts teach side by side

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.

See what the IFR track costsEvery module 1 is free to read, no account, no card.

Key terms

Try to recall each definition before turning the card.