Pine Bluff, Arkansas ILS LOC RWY 18

The approach into this non-towered rural airport is surprisingly complex at first glance.

Jason Blair

Thursday, August 17, 2023 at 04:37 PM ET

Verified

[Reproduced with permission of Jeppesen. Not for Navigational Use]

Key Takeaways:

The Pine Bluff ILS approach is unusually complex, featuring three distinct DME arcs for initial establishment, allowing pilots to choose based on their direction of arrival.
Pilots must critically remember to switch their navigation source from the PBF VOR to the ILS/LOC frequency when inbound on a DME arc to ensure an accurate approach path.
The approach lacks DME readouts for stepdown fixes or the missed approach point, requiring pilots to use time (for LOC) or decision height (for ILS) for identification.
The missed approach procedure is not straightforward, demanding a transition from ILS to VOR navigation and a specific right turn to intercept an outbound radial to a holding fix.

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A pilot will find the town of Pine Bluff in the heart of a rich agricultural area in the Arkansas River Basin south of Little Rock, Arkansas. While you might consider it a straightforward approach—with the non-towered airport’s single runway (18/36) served by an ILS to Runway 18—the approach plate is a pretty busy one when you first take a look at it

This Article First Appeared in FLYING Magazine

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