Chart Wise

For pilots expecting never again to face a non-precision approach tied to a land-based navaid, we can confirm that rumors of the demise of the VOR have been greatly exaggerated. In 2016, the FAA began eliminating many of the GPS overlay approaches tied to older VOR procedures ahead of plans to also eliminate a significant […]

Although the Morristown Six could easily be confused with a ’60s rock-and-roll band, the name actually applies to a standard instrument departure procedure, also known as a SID. SIDs look and feel different from traditional approach procedures, often including far more information arranged in a complex layout some pilots might find confusing. Air traffic control […]

Teterboro is one of the busiest business aviation airports in the United States, handling 178,000 takeoffs and landings annually, many on IFR flight plans. Most runways offer a straight-in approach, except Runway 1. KTEB’s proximity to nearby Newark Liberty means the best approach available to Runway 1 is the ILS Runway 6, circle to land […]

Localizer-only approaches have been around for decades, providing better-than-VOR lateral guidance while demanding no special cockpit avionics except the standard VOR-ILS indicator common to most airplanes. When it comes to accuracy, full-scale deflection of the course-deviation indicator from the center on a VOR signal represents 12 degrees off course, while a similar deflection on the […]

Most ILS approaches are constructed pretty much the same way. The environment in which a pilot might fly them can vary widely, however, and is important to consider. At an airport like New York’s La Guardia, which sees 375,000 annual takeoffs and landings, the ILS Runway 13 at the airport is used often. These traffic […]

The RNAV GPS Z approach to Runway 3 at Santa Monica is so new (April 2017), many pilots might not yet even be aware of its existence. (Two additional approaches to SMO were commissioned at the same time.) This new approach comes with a handful of restrictions, many of which are significant enough to demand […]

Visual approaches offer pilots an opportunity to remain within the IFR system but fly direct to the airport on their own. Once ATC issues a visual approach, however, responsibility for navigation and terrain clearance is transferred from the ground to the cockpit. Avionics manufacturers recently began adding visual-­approach capabilities to their navigation suites to create […]

In an era of satellite-based precision approaches, a pilot’s understanding of how to find the destination airport using a nondirectional beacon might seem a waste of time. But in the United States, hundreds of NDBs remain in service, according to the FAA. Alaska alone has 70. Flying an NDB approach requires considerably more pilot attention because […]

At first glance, approach plates like Louisville’s ILS Runway 35R are easily discernible to instrument pilots. But during a recurrent training session when an instructor or examiner begins digging into the specifics, sweaty palms can easily follow. Here are a few penetrating questions to test your knowledge. For our quiz today, assume the DME-equipped aircraft […]

Many instrument procedures, such as ILS approaches, allow you to fly your airplane very close to the ground while in clouds. When the decision altitude or decision height is as low as 100 to 200 feet above the ground, it is particularly critical to know the approach procedure and make sure that your altimeter is […]