An ILS approach chart is really two approaches sharing one chart—except when it isn’t. Sometimes one little detail way upstream makes all the difference.
No Two-for-one here
Fly IFR enough and reading an approach plate becomes something akin to ordering at your favorite diner. You know everything on the menu. When Lorna the waitress tells you theyre fresh out of the sweet potato fries that let you pretend youre getting a vegetable with your triple-bypass cheeseburger, you call for the onion rings instead without asking for your options. Hey, onions are vegetables too, right?
Key Takeaways:
- The ILS Rwy 31 at Salinas, CA, is unusual for lacking both circling minimums and co-charted localizer-only minimums, despite a similar localizer approach existing separately.
- The absence of co-charted localizer minimums stems from a high procedure turn (PT) altitude, dictated by terrain and TERPS rules, which made designing compliant localizer stepdowns for a combined chart impossible.
- Circling minimums are specifically omitted on the ILS chart due to a "Flight Standards policy" that disallows them on stand-alone precision approaches, creating a procedural dilemma for pilots needing to circle.
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