wrote:

Not having access to the chart, I can only presume they got lower minimums with
a stepdown fix.

Yes, it's unfortunate that Canadian approaches cannot be published for free
online like US ones are. The airport recently installed a DME to replace
the old UUP TRACON, but it's not used in the approach except as an
alternative way of identifying the FAF (the OW NDB) -- there are no
step-down fixes past the FAF. Here's a summary of the approach, leaving out
published transitions and the missed approach instructions:

IAF: OW NDB
MSA: 2900 ft (N), 2100 ft (S), based on OW (MSA is operational in Canada)
PT altitude: 2500 ft
FAF: OW NDB
FAF crossing altitude: 1500 ft (was 1600 ft)
MAP: 4.1 nm past FAF (but not charted as a DME fix)
MDA: 660 ft MSL/287 ft HAT (was 800 ft MSL)

The LOC trapezoids are quite narrow in close, so such a low MDA
is possible at a place where it is flat, close in. The MDA in theory could be
as low as 250 feet if there were no obstacles higher than the TDZ elevation and
the addition of the basic 230 feet of required obstacle clearance to the MSL
value of the TDZ results in a number ending in 20-foot increments so it doesn't
need to be rounded up.

It's entirely possible that the MDA used to be this low a few years ago,
before I started flying. The airport recently finished construction of a
new terminal, and cranes (etc.) might have pushed up the MDA for a few years.

None of the other localizer-based approaches has such a low MDA. The
LOC-only 07 MDA is 388 ft HAT, the LOC-only 32 MDA is 429 ft HAT (both are
200 ft with the ILS, of course), and the LOC(BC)/DME or LOC(BC)/NDB 14 MDA
is 480 ft HAT. As I mentioned, the LOC(BC) 25 is the most important NPA
operationally, so they must have gone to extra trouble to ensure that there
were no obstructions. I'd love to know the history from anyone who has been
flying into CYOW longer than I have.


Thanks, and all the best,


David