There are three requirements that must be met to establish straight-in
minimums:

1. Final approach course alignment with runway.

2. Descent gradient

3. Limits on where final approach course crosses or parallels the runway
centerline, extended.

Number 3 is impossible to assess without the source data.

Finally, flight inspection can nix the straight-in minimums if they don't
like the way the approach flies.

Roy Smith wrote:

The VOR-A at New Haven
(http://www.myairplane.com/databases/...s/00671VG2.PDF) has an
MDA of 720, which is about 300 feet higher than the towers in the area.
The VOR-2
(http://www.myairplane.com/databases/...s/00671VG2.PDF) gets
you down to 380, and has to deal with the same towers. Why does it get
to have an MDA 340 feet lower than the VOR-A?

In fact, the VOR-A is almost perfectly lined up with runway 32; I don't
see why it couldn't have been the VOR-32 with an MDA about 300 feet
lower. Any of you TERPs-heads out there understand what's going on here?