I’ve always found instrument approach procedures to be fascinating. There’s a detailed map, with altitudes, headings, descent angles, airport lighting details, frequencies and nearby navigation facilities, all combined onto one “plate,” a masterpiece of technical artistry. Once one learns about profile and plan views, plus notes and holding patterns/course reversals, a whole new world seemingly opens up our operational flexibility.
But that same technical artistry can work against us by obscuring or deemphasizing details which, at first glance, may not seem significant. But they are. In fact, the sheer amount of information means some of it can be difficult to pinpoint on the chart, especially in a pinch. So much so, in fact, that many training organizations develop quizzes that dissect an approach plate to help us recognize where some of the pitfalls can be.
