Chart Wise: Roanoke LDA Y Runway 6

The mountains of western Virginia necessitate an offset approach.

Thursday, January 11, 2024 at 01:34 PM ET

Verified

A pilot who might be visiting Roanoke, nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of southwest Virginia, might choose to use this less-often-found type of approach when landing Runway 6 via the LDA Y RWY 6. [Image: Jeppesen]

Key Takeaways:

The LDA Y RWY 6 is an offset localizer approach (14.5 degrees) that requires a visual turn to align with the runway after intercepting the localizer.
A glide slope is available, but pilots must be aware of significantly higher minimums if it's out of service or unusable.
High terrain in the area dictates caution, restricting circling maneuvers to the northwest of Runway 6/24 and requiring awareness of a high Minimum Safe Altitude (MSA).
The approach involves transitioning from VOR to localizer navigation, and an ADF is not required for the standard missed approach procedure despite an NDB being on the path.

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Technically called a localizer-type directional aid (LDA), most of us remember and refer to these types of procedures as “localizer darn angle” approaches. Many of them aim for a single runway but are not directly aligned with it. In this case, a pilot who might be visiting the city nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains of southwest Virginia might choose to use this less-often-found type of approach when landing Runway 6 via the LDA Y RWY 6.

A) VOR, THEN TURN ONTO THE FINAL PATH