Circle-to-land

The Circle-To-Land Approach

A story

The sunshine is brilliant in the blue sky above the cloud tops over which you are skimming along. Well, "you" are encapsulated in your trusty Speedbird 190 and that is what is just skimming along the tops, almost dragging the belly antennas in the clouds.

Approach Control calls. "Speedbird five seven golf you're cleared the VOR one three approach into Oxford. Report leaving four thousand." You reply. "Cleared the approach, we're out of four thousand at this time. Speedbird five seven golf." "Roger five seven golf. Report passing through three please." "We'll check through three. Five seven golf."

You are about to shoot one of the most demanding and difficult approaches that a pilot has in his/her bag of tricks.

The circle-to-land approach.

What is a circle-to-land approach?

Anytime you cannot land straight-in to the runway after going visual on an approach.

Why would you shoot a circle-to-land approach?

Well, at some airports that's the only choice that you have. The facility (VOR/VORTAC, LOC, ADF etc.) that serves the airport is not aligned with the runway. You just can't land straight-in without turning the aircraft. Or, the surface wind may be such that you have to land on a runway other than the one that has a valid instrument approach.

Why is this approach format so demanding?

Let's follow our Speedbird through our current situation and do a discussion after she's safely parked on the ramp that is waiting for her "down there."

Leaving four thousand you are immediately enveloped in a blanket of gossamer milk as you descend into the cloud tops that were below you. At the same time the humidity level in the aircraft noticeably increases, and it's not just due to the sweat on your brow or your hands- those clouds that you just entered are made up of water and that humid air is being fed to the aircraft cabin. You have determined that a descent rate of 800 feet per minute at an airspeed of 120 knots will put you in the right place on the approach when you reach your MDA (Minimum Descent Altitude) of 1,500 feet- 900 feet above the Oxford airport runway. Reported visibility from "big airport" 10 miles away, the one whose Approach Control you are currently dealing with, is 2 miles- 1 mile more than you need to meet minimums for the approach.

"Five seven golf is passing through three thousand at this time." "Roger five seven golf. Radar contact lost. In the event of a Missed Approach at Oxford fly a heading of one two zero degrees, climb and maintain four thousand, contact me on this frequency. Altimeter remains at two niner point niner one." "OK, Missed Approach is one two zero on the heading, climb to four thousand, and we'll call you on this frequency. Twenty nine ninety one on the altimeter." "That's correct five seven golf. You can change over to traffic advisory frequency at this time if you wish." "Thank you, five seven golf."

You reach up and switch comm. radios to the CTAF (Common Traffic Advisory Frequency) and make a blind radio call. "Oxford traffic, Speedbird five seven golf is on the approach, about five miles Northeast, descending out of two thousand. We'll be circling to land on runway three one. Oxford." Surprisingly, there is a reply on this gray and gloomy day. "Roger five seven golf. Oxford unicom. Be advised that there is a no radio Piper Cub shooting touch-and-goes on runway three one at this time. He's in left traffic." "Thank you Oxford, we'll keep an eye out for him and make pattern calls."

At this time your altimeter has reached 1,500 feet. You stop your descent but do not add any power, watching your airspeed bleed off as the Speedbird regains her place in the flying world of physics- mass in motion, power and drag. At this point you have your approach power set but the gear is still in the wells and the flaps are still retracted. The VOR needle is nailed- dead nuts center. Visibility is worse than at the "big airport", probably about a mile and a half. There's some lower scud clouds floating around down below but they are scattered and do not constitute another ceiling. Now's a good time to line your ducks up for the Missed Approach. You reach up and set the heading bug on the HSI to 120 degrees, your assigned heading "if."

There it is!

The end of runway 13 appears off of the nose, about 40 degrees to your current direction of flight. Thanks to level flight since you reached 1,500 feet the old Speedbird is down to approach flap airspeed. You drop the first notch, keeping an eye on the runway. The gear stays in the wells. "Oxford traffic, Speedbird five seven golf is coming up on the approach end of runway one three. We'll be entering left traffic and landing on runway three one. Oxford." Now, where is that Cub that is shooting touch-and-goes? You quickly scan around the airport boundary in search of the nimble flyer. No luck. Your eyes go back towards the runway.

It's gone!

The scud below has obscured the runway. You only have a second or it's Missed Approach time. There it is! Now you have crossed over the end of runway 13 and start a close-in downwind leg for runway 31. Not too close. The closer you are on your downwind, the tighter your turn will have to be as you turn to base and final. Of course, for all intents and purposes you can fly any way that you want to as long as you do not go beyond the airspace that is protected for the approach, or execute any "aerobatic maneuvers." The left wing covers up the runway so you dip it down to maintain visual contact. A great move on your part, but the resulting turning moment only takes you closer to the runway. Now the turn to final will have to be a tight one. "Where the heck is that darned Cub?" "Speedbird five seven golf Oxford. The Cub that was shooting touch-and-goes just pulled onto the ramp. No other reported traffic." "Thank you, five seven golf. We'll be turning final for three one shortly." What a nice guy on that Unicom base radio.

You remember what your old instrument instructor used to preach to you. "Just because you're on an instrument approach doesn't mean that you own the airspace. If the weather is above VFR minimums it is perfectly legal for someone to be flying in the pattern. And" (and this is where he really got preachy) "that airplane has just as much right to be there as you do." At least in this case the lovely little Cub was on the ground.

The driver was probably standing on the ramp, having a cup of coffee and waiting to see how you- the hot shot IFR flyer- was going to handle the situation.

Aviation's toughest audience- your peers.

You pass the approach end of runway three one on your close-in downwind and drop the gear. The joyous three green lights appear- down and locked. Flaps stay at their existing setting. You increase the power as your now-too-tight left turn commences. The stall warning horn sounds briefly and you add more power. The scud once again floats across the runway only to go away once more. Now you're on a three quarter mile final. Once out of the turn you immediately dump full flaps and dive for the approach end. You reach over and pull the power. Fast, but descending rapidly. Tough to judge this one and you land (hit?) firmly. The aircraft bounces on the runway and you become airborne again momentarily before you finish your own touch-and-stop.

You secretly hope that the driver of the Piper Cub chokes on his coffee.

As you clear the runway you make your final CTAF call out. "Oxford traffic, Speedbird five seven golf is on the ground and clear of all runways, Oxford". And, it's always worth a try especially when "big town" airport is fairly close, you switch comms. back to Approach Control. "Approach, five seven golf." "Five seven golf, Approach." "We're on the ground at Oxford." "Roger five seven golf, I'll cancel your IFR at this time. Good day!" "Thank you Sir." Heck, you just saved having to put a quarter in the pay phone.

So?

Well, that wasn't so tough was it? Oh yes Grasshopper, that was tough. There were a lot of opportunities in the above situation where the flight could have been lost. And that's not just because of our scenario, it applies to all circle-to-land approaches.

Radio talk

Oh, one last thing before we continue on here. Notice how when Speedbird 57G made CTAF radio calls they always began and ended with "Oxford"? There's a good reason for that. CTAF''s are shared with a lot of airports. Generally ground originated broadcasts don't interfere but airborne ones can and often do because aviation communications radios are VHF and broadcast line-of-sight. Because there is often a lot of traffic during busy periods your radio call may be partially blocked by another airborne transmission. By saying the name of your operating airport at the beginning and the end of each call it increases the chances of at least the airport name coming through without being "stepped on." Just hearing that will perk up the ears of anyone operating in the airport area. A small edge, but any edge in flying helps.

A short diversion

Once while grinding along enroute and guarding Unicom 122.8 for a small airport landing that was coming up, I heard "Ah, Smalltown Unicom Big Airline 123." "Big Airline 123 this is Smalltown." "Ah yeah, is Jerry there?" "No, he's not working today." "Oh, well we're up here at flight level three five oh about two hundred miles East of you all and just wanted to say 'Hello'."

I'll bet folks in traffic patterns for a five state area loved that guy.

"Put a pair of wings on it and I can fly it!"

(Excuse me while I drag my soapbox over here and stand on top of it. There. That's good.)

Sure you can. Heck, you wouldn't be in this flying game if you didn't have confidence in yourself and your abilities. But there's a fine line- a very fine line- between self-confidence and arrogance. If you don't believe in yourself you probably will fail. Equally so, if you become over-confident to the point of arrogance... well, you'll probably fail too. Pilots must constantly balance these basic emotions.

It is not easy.

Those that don't often wrap themselves in a balled-up mass of aluminum that used to be an airplane.

Sometimes they kill innocent people that trusted them.

Not long ago, in Northern Minnesota, a King Air on a circle-to-land approach ended up as a smoking ball of aluminum. The approach started off as a straight-in, but for reasons that we will never know the pilot passed on the straight-in and started to circle the airport. Post crash analysis showed that the powerplants were operational. Instead of executing a go-around and a Missed Approach the pilot continued around the airport perimeter. Perhaps he was going to land on another of the field's runways. Radar data showed that he had slowed the King Air down to minimal maneuvering airspeed. Maybe he saw the airport and turned in towards it. When he made the turn, the aircraft stalled and dropped into the trees nose-down. Everyone died, including the United States Senator, his family and some of his staff that placed their trust in the guy sitting in the left front seat.

In all fairness, initial findings show that there may have been another major factor in this accident.

The pilot had a lot of "P-51 time."

OK, I'm showing my age here but it's an oft-used aviation phrase. Back before ball point pens were common folks used fountain pens. One of the best ones was made by the Parker Pen Company and was named the "Parker model P-51." If a pilot was known (or suspected) of filling out hours not actually flown in his logbook, it was said that he "...had a lot of P-51 time." Apparently the KingAir pilot had it in spades.

What does this mean to you?

It means that there are areas of flying airplanes that you shouldn't go if you don't have the experience and confidence in that experience. Hell, even front line airline pilots have higher minimums on approaches until they are certified by their carriers for the route. Just because you can fly doesn't mean that you can do everything. Respect your limitations.

And respect those things in aviation that demand your best.

Circle-to-land approaches are one of those things.

I will now climb back down off of my soapbox. Thank you for listening.

OK. What should one watch out for on a circiling approach?

- Airspeed

You will have the aircraft slowed down so that you are in a "landing position." This means that you will be at a minimum airspeed. Keep in mind that when an aircraft turns the stall speed increases. Thus, you may be ready for your turn to final and find yourself in a non-flying airplane when you make the bank.

- Altitude

You're low. If you do stall your chances of recovery are minimal at best. Keep up as much airspeed as possible and still be able to slow down for landing.

- Things that go bump

Circle-to-land procedures almost always have higher minimums than any other type of approach. That's because there are objects out there that you can run into. My old instrument instructor was widely regarded as one of the best, yet he somehow found the highest real estate in the State of Nebraska and bought it.

Making a circle-to-land approach.

- Down and dirty

Usually the aircraft is in a "down and dirty" condition: flaps and gear are both down. If you do need to execute a missed approach you need to literally "get the hell out of there!" Airports are laid out so that there are no obstructions in the runway corridor. If there are going to be buildings, antenna farms, hills etc. guess where they will be? Right. In that area where you are circiling around in your airplane. When you firewall it to get out of Dodge there's a whole lot more ground clutter (usually) than there is on an ILS Missed Approach procedure. Having the airplane dirtier than necessary will slow your climb rate. Try to hold off lowering the landing gear and the balance of landing flaps until you know that you can make the runway.

- Land downwind

What the heck, why not? If the landing authority (the tower for example) will authorize it, or if in your judgement it is safe and doable, then land downwind and forget the circiling altogether. Sure it's a little tough on the tires, and maybe the brakes, but if the runway is long enough it certainly beats being out there rummaging around in the muck.

- Keep the runway on your side

Always try to have the airport and the runway on the left side of the airplane. This way as you turn the wing is not covering up what you need to see. Remember that if you lose sight of the runway you have to make a Missed Approach.

- Missed Approach

Remember that if you lose visual contact with the runway you have to go Missed Approach. Here's another thing to think about: on other types of instrument approaches there is a dedicated Missed Point. That's not true with a circle-to-land approach. You could be most anywhere around the runway and heading in most any old direction when you are forced to give it up and go Missed. For that reason the Missed Approach procedures are almost always universal in requiring a climb and a turn to a heading. Have the Missed Approach procedure nailed in your mind, it's not the time for you to have your head down trying to read the small print,.

- Do what the military does

While not used as much as it used to be, the "overhead 360 approach" is a natural for landing the airplane on circle-to-land approaches. Rather than flying a tight pattern and getting lower for the landing, fly as high as practical and right toward the runway that you are going to land on. Maneuver such that you can approach the end of the runway with it off to your left and you can see it out the windshield.

As you cross abeam of the runway end start a 360 degree descending turn. Make the turn with as shallow a bank as possible. Drop gear and flaps during the turn, adding additional landing flaps as you near the end of the runway. You will straighten out to a wings level attitude just shortly before you touch down.

Practice these procedures in good weather with good visibility. Practice does make perfect. Well, perfection and flying airplanes seldom go hand in hand, truth be known. But don't, don't ever, ever get low and slow on a circle-to-land approach.

It can seriously hurt you.

Fly safely.

Hal Stoen

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This tutorial written after a suggestion by Charly Playe.

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