Padraig wrote:

Gents,

Thanks for the responses. Sorry to have incited such an argument.

Sam, just curious, did you talk to FAA folks (friendlies, as you put
it)? Thanks for the info. Interesting. You're saying it's
misleading to show the 120R ADL versus just the CHS Radial and
Distance. I agree if that's what you're saying.

Yes, my work causes me to interface with AeroNav Services in OKC
(formerly the National Flight Procedures Office), which is the office
that designs and maintains instrument procedures. Anyone can review
pending procedures and contact them through their web site at:

http://naco.faa.gov/acifp.asp

The links to the left side of the page will lead to other information,
such as instrument procedures production plans.



One of the big take-aways from this back-and-forth that surprised me
was that no one talked about Visual Descent Points (VDPs), charted or
otherwise. The point of a VDP is to indicate to the pilot when they
are at a safe distance from the MAP at which point they can leave MDA
(assuming they meet the requirements for leaving MDA). In lieu of a
charted VDPs, make your own using the rule of 300 ft/nm descent rate.
So if your MDA takes you to 600 AGL, leave MDA 2.0NM before the runway
(again, assuming you're in a position to land and meet the reqs of
descending below MDA). I believe in part it's to keep a/c from
descending into the ground after the "DIVE/DRIVE" method and they
break out way before MAP (especially at night).

Airlines have redone a lot of their tactics on non-precision
approaches, and the whole dive/drive method is somewhat outdated.
It's preferred to have a fairly constant descent to MAP, just like an
ILS approach or LPV. Getting down to MDA early can be dangerous if
you have to drive for some distance before it's safe to descend to the
runway.

Anyway, thanks for the videos. It's good to see actual footage when
most of the time I'm stuck inside thinking about flying.

Last point. And I know the approach name doesn't call out ILS/DME,
but what the heck do I do if I go missed and have to fess up that I
don't have DME. I would imagine the FAA could come after me (in
theory) since it's required per the procedural note.

Thanks,
Padraig

On Mar 12, 3:46 pm, Sam Spade wrote:


I got an answer from the friendlies. The ALD radial is restricted below
6,000, thus DME is mandatory for BASSO. I pointed out that charting the
ALD R-120 as part of the fix composition on the approach chart is
misleading.