Reading an approach plate

Briefing strip, terminal arrival area, plan view, profile, and minimums, box by box on a real RNAV chart.

19 min read · Charts and procedures

After this lesson you can

  • Locate and read every box of the briefing strip: procedure identity, approach course, elevations, notes, missed approach text, and frequencies.
  • Use a terminal arrival area (TAA) to pick the correct IAF and minimum altitude for your direction of arrival.
  • Trace a plan view from IAF through IF to FAF, and a profile view from FAF to the missed approach point.
  • Decode a minimums line: DA or MDA, visibility, and height above touchdown or airport, by approach category.

An instrument approach chart packs an entire arrival, in three dimensions, onto one page you can read at a glance in a bumpy cockpit. Every box has a fixed job and a fixed place: once you know the layout, a chart you have never seen becomes readable in the first ten seconds, because the FAA prints all of them the same way.

This lesson works through a real chart: the RNAV (GPS) RWY 6 approach into Manchester-Boston Regional (KMHT), New Hampshire, as published in the FAA d-TPP cycle effective August 6 to September 3, 2026. Nothing here is invented. Every frequency, altitude, and minimum quoted is the one printed on that chart. Before flying any approach, pull the cycle in force on the day.

The rest of this lesson

  1. 1.The briefing strip
  2. 2.The terminal arrival area: picking your gate
  3. 3.Plan view: from initial fix to final fix
  4. 4.Profile view: the vertical story
  5. 5.Minimums: reading the format
  6. 6.The missed approach
  7. 7.The airport sketch
  8. 8.Currency: reading the dates

These 8 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.