Wheres that Runway?

Its the end of a long day filled of uncooperative weather, ground stops, and a diversion tossed in to make it interesting. Youre shooting the non-precision (of course) GPS approach, and upon reaching minimums, you look up and see … nothing. Wait a minute! Isnt that a PAPI glowing out of the left side of your window? Is that your runway? If so, whats it doing all the way over there?

IFR Staff

Sunday, March 11, 2018 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Pilots on instrument approaches, especially non-precision ones, may encounter the runway appearing significantly off-center at minimums, leading to disorientation even on "straight-in" approaches.
This off-center appearance is typically caused by a designed offset in the final approach course (due to obstacles, terrain, or airspace) or a strong crosswind requiring the aircraft to crab.
To mitigate disorientation, pilots must proactively brief the expected visual "sight picture" by comparing the final approach course to the runway heading, checking charts for offset indicators, and accounting for crosswind effects.

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It’s the end of a long day filled of uncooperative weather, ground stops, and a diversion tossed in to make it interesting. You’re shooting the non-precision (of course) GPS approach, and upon reaching minimums, you look up and see … nothing. Wait a minute! Isn’t that a PAPI glowing out of the left side of your window? Is that your runway? If so, what’s it doingall the way over there?

This was the experience that a reader shared with us about flying the GPS RWY 12R approach into the North Las Vegas airport (KVGT). (See Readback, “Not There, but Over There.)”