Using The Approach Planner photo Living With Your Plane For airports and airfields without published procedures (All graphics in this tutorial are for illustration purposes only and not for flying) A Product of PilotPath Take the stress and guesswork out of getting there
Getting Started There are thousands of small municipal and private airports without published approach procedures. However, creating your own autolanding approaches when needed provides a more efficient control of traffic and makes a pilot's life easier and safer. The PilotPath approach system is an easy solution to achieve this, and reduces stress during the most critical part of the flight. But it should be used for VFR flying only IAW your country's directives. However, when you need special routing to avoid populated areas (noise abatement, terrain/obstacle separation, other traffic issues) or confronted with a visually restrictive situation making it difficult to see the runway, such as haze, fog, rain, sun glare, darkened skies, even turbulence, having a good reliable approach procedure, especially for the pilot who is unfamiliar with the airport, will be a welcome relief. But under no circumstance should user GPS waypoint approaches be attempted during regulation defined IMC or IFR conditions. PilotPath allows you to pre-plan professional approaches in advance. It's not a home-made mark wpts as you fly method. And, not only does it help locate the airfield by entering the correct pattern, but by seeing the moving map and flight plan data display count down the distance to the runway, then seeing it appear through the haze, gives you great confidence in your instruments. Whether your trip is for pleasure or business, such as your first time visit to an airpark event, or to relocate your company to a new home town; even when you are flying back to you're own airfield after the sun has set... it takes the stress and guesswork out of getting there. 1
Using The Approach Planner The key benefit of the planner is that it totally simplifies the routing and approach process no creative maneuvers are involved. It uses standardized left/right traffic patterns in three configurations. This allows the pilot to choose a pattern for the aircraft being flown, as well as avoiding terrain/obstacles and other traffic. They are easy to calculate and use from the Approach Planner file which contains 36 charts covering all rwy hdgs for any airport in the world; eg. airports with 17-35 or 1836,runways will use the same GPS/FMS settings. Load and use instructions are explained on the following pages. You may ask, Why these choice of routes? Answer: to allow the planner a choice in order to avoid terrain/obstacles on the approach or departure as well as other airport traffic in the area. Both outer and inner routes will accommodate all GA type aircraft. The close-in route should be used only for slower single props. Each chart also provides for both left and right traffic patterns. (Black entries from the approach planner template 2 Red entries must be added to form)
1. Notice there are four routes. The outer routes (solid lines) and inner routes (dashed lines) the close-in routes (only load data is provided) See p.6-7 of the Special Topics tutorial for AC confg.data. 2.The graphic below shows how the data matches the compass routing depending upon the aircraft flown. The waypoint turn positions are more shallow than most anticipated turn features on other charts due to the close-in proximity to the airport 3. Except for some load features explained later in the tutorial, this RAD and DIST data would apply to any airport or airfield with the same rwy configuration. Chart Versions Users must request runway charts from the 36 template chart library to plan their approach route patterns. However, while PilotPath does not custom design approach routes, it does provide graphic services for users who prefer a more visible profile. Approach paths can be overlayed on VFR sectional charts (ORPs) to show the relationship between the route and terrain, TV towers, airspace intervention, etc. This portrayal can determine wpt relocations, altitude assignments or right/left alternate routing. For details on how to obtain these versions see item 8 of the Special Use tutorial. An agreement/compliant box must be completed before any PilotPath product is ordered. 3
Alternate Airport Routing Should restrictive visual conditions deteriorate upon arrival at your destination airport into IMC, making visual contact with the rwy too difficult to continue the approach, an alternate airport plan should be executed. However, when reported conditions indicate VMC exists, a safe landing can be made if properly executed with caution. (See On-Final, item 9, Special Topics tutorial) Under no circumstances should pilots, VFR or IFR rated, continue the VFR landing procedure when the runway is not clearly in sight and within visibility minimums according to flight rule procedures which should be followed in rerouting to an alternate airport. Having a preplanned procedure loaded in the GPS unit (such as shown in the plan below) will aid greatly in proceeding to the nearest IFR equipped airport for rated pilots, and may receive SVFR approval for VFR rated pilots. This procedure may also be used for other condition preventing a landing at the airport. A go-around may require a reset of the procedure. Pilot's notes: Having reset the HSI to the on-final course, switch to the Hdg mode, climb to an appropriate altitude, reload the GPS or FMS to the alternate airport, then turn toward the preplanned route and set a direct-to to the first waypoint 4
Loading the GPS After planning an approach using the PilotPath procedure, locate the Create page on your GPS unit. On p.3 of this tutorial, the chart shows routes and wpt positions to rwy 36. Using 87K airport as our example below on the Garmin 430, shows how the 04 wpt page is prepared for the on-final leg 180 position at 5 miles for landing. All of the wpt pages would be prepared as this one: give a USR name to each wpt (87K01, 02, etc) and put the airport's ID code* in the WPT window. The only other data to enter is the RAD and DIS taken from the approach planner. All the other data will appear automatically. Then each page is saved by clicking on the modify word. When this is done the USR data will flash to confirm the save. *while procedures will usually be planned using the Jeppesen database, airfields not listed can use lat/lon to create approaches see your equipment's instructions. Fig. 1 Correcting The Offset The last wpt page, created above, is the FAF 04 wpt which should be accurately aligned with the rwy. Municipal and county airports will usually have accurately surveyed runways with very slight deviation to the rwy coordinate. For these airports, entering the exact runway position (eg: RAD 046 rather than 050 for KJLN rwy 23) should be accurate for the landing. However, small airfields may not have this accuracy, and pilots will find that correction is needed to line up with the runway; especially if it's a turf airstrip, often difficult to see even under good visual conditions. How this is accomplished is covered on pages 6-7 of this tutorial. 5
Fig 2 To correct this offset, a change in the last FAF wpt will be needed. Most offsets can be corrected with a 2 to 3 degree plus or minus change in the RAD as illustrated in Fig 3. Using the 87K airport as our example, the plane is routed to their turf runway 36 which was setup in the GPS as a 180 /5nm position. But as you can see in the Fig 2 illustration, the plane is too far to the left of the rwy. However, when two degrees are subtracted from the RAD to 178, the plane lines up well with the runway - Fig 4. This correction, along with an accurate EOR* lat/long for the touchdown point, becomes a very important setting especially for difficult to identify turf airstrips. *End Of Runway Fig. 3 6
Fig. 4 Touchdown Point Accuracy As previously mentioned, another refinement in the process is to create the last Rwy page using the end-of-runway (EOR) lat/long data rather than just listing the airport ID code. If this data is not available, you can obtain it using a hand-held GPS unit or from the aircraft's panel-mount GPS Position page with the plane positioned at the touchdown point. Using 87K Rwy 36 as our example, create the last page in the plan as the touchdown point. Enter the USR ID by runway number, such as 87R36, the airport's designated code and the Lat/long data at the bottom. All the other windows will automatically fill in as illustrated in Fig 5. This will provide a more accurate distance after turning final that could be important under visually restrictive conditions and for turf airstrips. Fig. 5 7
Creating The Active Flight Plan When all the wpt pages have been created, bring up the Active Flight Plan and clear out any entries shown. Then, build this page (Fig 6) using USR names given to the waypoints. Highlight each line and list all the created pages for the route such as 87K01, 87K02, 87K03, etc. It's important to activate the plan and save it using the unit's prescribed method. Any changes to a wpt will first require loading the plan, then deleting the Flt Plan wpt entry as well as the saved plan. Then, go to the create pages to make any changes, and reload the changed pages in the plan. By transferring route data you use frequently onto Flight Approach Plan (FAP) forms (described in the Special Use tutorial, p.1) will prove to be valuable when you must start deleting plans in the save catalog of your GPS unit and make space for new plans. Some GPS's have an upload feature for this from a personal computer. Fig. 6 FMC Users Instruction for applying these procedures to FMS navigation is detailed on p.5 of the Special Use tutorial. 8
Some Do's & Don'ts Here are some things you should take seriously in the use of the PilotPath procedures: Do announce your arrival on the airport's CTAF frequency before approaching the first waypoint. Do comply with prescribed altitudes provided by the destination airport for the approach route. Don't use it at night, or when extremely darkened sky conditions make it difficult to see terrain or tall structures (TV towers, etc.) unless you are famaliar with the area and have reliable instructions. Don't use within ATC airspace when routed procedures interfere with other nearby airport traffic. Some airfield patterns may need to be coordinated with ATC IAW FAA 8260.19D. Don't use when there is questionable weather other than VMC, and is likely to deteriate into IMC No scud running! Special Use Tutorial There are many subjects contained in the Special Use tutorial, some referenced in this tutorial. However, other important topics are covered as well and is a must read for use in conjunction with this tutorial. THESE PROCEDURES APPLY TO VFR FLYING IAW 95-7 AND ARE DESIGNED FOR AUTO-COUPLED PANEL MOUNT GPS UNITS ONLY. Disclaimer: The producer of this PilotPath advisory procedure does not accept any responsibility for pilot planning or use in flying of the procedures. Pilots must use them in conformance with all FAA directives and guidelines partaining to VFR flight. See terms of agreement on purchase order. for additional details about this product go to www.ddponlinemedia.com/pilotpath 9
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