The glideslope pegged. Or failed. Or the winds now favor circling. No, you don’t have to go missed. You just have to move the aircraft back into the safe zone.
Switch-Hitting On the EILS
Pull out your average approach plate for your favorite ILS. What youre looking at is really two approaches that share a piece of paper: the ILS and the localizer-only. Its even stated this way in TERPs: two separate approaches.
Key Takeaways:
- Pilots can safely transition from an ILS to a localizer-only approach even late in the final segment if the glideslope fails or becomes undesirable.
- This transition is possible because the localizer-only approach provides protected airspace down to its Minimum Descent Altitude (MDA), serving as a safe fallback when vertical guidance is lost.
- Upon glideslope issues, pilots can descend to the localizer MDA and proceed to the Missed Approach Point (MAP), or climb to a circling MDA if needed, as both ILS and localizer approaches share a common missed approach procedure.
- A counterpoint advises going missed immediately upon glideslope failure if the cause is uncertain or if other instruments seem incongruent, prioritizing safety over troubleshooting on final approach.
Key takeaways sponsored by Aviator Pro | Start Your Training ->
See a mistake? Contact us.
