Too Many Approaches

One commenter expressed approval of the cancellation of a circling procedure only if all runways accessible by the procedure have a straight-in IAP with lower minimums than in the canceled procedure. The FAA replied that its policy is not meant to assure straight-in IAPs for every runway end, but rather to minimize redundancy. While cancelling some circling procedures might reduce airport accessibility, runway availability will be unaffected. You might have to fly further to get access to your approach, but its availability will stay the same.

Fred Simonds

Sunday, September 16, 2018 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

The FAA is actively reducing the number of Instrument Approach Procedures (IAPs) and especially circling minimums to cut costs and streamline the National Airspace System as part of its NextGen transition.
Specific criteria have been established for canceling or retaining circling procedures, prioritizing factors such as being the only approach at an airport, MON airport designation, and ensuring the lowest landing minimums are preserved.
While the FAA states that circling approaches are as safe as straight-in approaches, the article's author strongly disputes this, citing studies that indicate approaches with vertical guidance are significantly safer than circling maneuvers.

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The FAA currently supports both ground- and satellite-based instrument approach procedures (IAP) totaling over 12,000 approaches—roughly double the number from 10 years ago. That many approaches are costly and require excessive resources to maintain.

To reduce costs in transitioning to NextGen, the FAA quickly targeted many instrument flight procedures as low-hanging fruit. This requires a delicate balancing act because continuity of National Airspace System (NAS) safety must be maintained. Let’s look at policies the FAA adopted when considering whether to cancel an IAP.