Procedure Turn Basics

Teardrops are pretty rare (See Driving All Night, October 2017.) and permit aircraft to reverse course and lose a significant amount of altitude within a defined area (these are often found at military or joint-use airports). These are entered at the initial fix, proceeding outbound on the defined radial, and initiating a turn inbound at the defined point or distance. Think of it as a conventional procedure turn, but usually much larger and with explicitly defined segments.

IFR Staff

Saturday, October 20, 2018 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Course reversals (procedure turns, HILPT, teardrop) allow aircraft to reverse direction, establish on approach courses, and lose altitude, with traditional procedure turns offering some pilot discretion in their maneuver.
A procedure turn is mandatory if depicted on the approach chart, unless ATC issues a "straight-in" clearance, provides radar vectors to the final approach course, or the procedure explicitly states "NoPT."
Pilots must remain within the defined protected airspace during a procedure turn and not descend below the procedure turn altitude until established on the inbound course, despite flexibility in the maneuver's exact execution.
When an ATC clearance is unclear or conflicts with standard procedure (e.g., cleared for an approach without "straight-in" despite being aligned with the final course), pilots are required to request clarification from ATC.

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You’re flying your Turbo Bugsmasher on a dreary flight to an out-of-the-way country airport. The controller doesn’t seem to be the chatty type and clears you direct to the IAF/IF and issues your approach clearance. There’s a procedure turn depicted at that fix, but your course to the IAF/IF is close to the final approach course. Do you fly the procedure turn or just turn onto final and get in five minutes earlier?

This scenario would likely get a heated discussion among instrument pilots at your next hangar-flying session. One camp says that the procedure turn should be flown since that’s what that the regs indicate. The other camp says that’s a waste of time since it would take more work and maneuvering to turn around than just make the slight turn onto final. Both sides make a reasonable case, so what should you do?