Flight Training - January/February 2025 - 51

ADVANCED PILOT INSTRUMENT TIP
MORE THAN A STATIC MAP
THE PLAN VIEW AS AN INTERACTIVE GUIDE
BY BRUCE WILLIAMS
THE FAMILIAR PLAN VIEW SECTION OF AN
IFR approach chart is a top-down map of
the procedure that shows the paths to the
runway, where obstacles may lurk in the
murk, and the track you'll follow if you
miss the approach. But the plan view can
be more than a static drawing. When you
review a plate or coach an IFR student
through setting up for an approach, think of
the plan view as both a noun and as a verb.
It can help you plan your approach and
map details from the chart to your avionics.
Consider the ILS or LOC RWY 20
approach at Bremerton National Airport
(PWT), about 20 nautical miles west of
Seattle. It's a typical ILS. The plan view
shows high terrain just northwest of the
runway, the names of the fixes that define
the segments of the approach, and the final
approach course, 197 degrees.
The top-down perspective also depicts
radials from the Seattle (SEA) and Olympia
(OLM) navaids that help you maintain
situational awareness-if you use that
information to plan how you'll map the
localizer and VOR frequencies to your
number 1 and 2 nav radios and set the
bearing pointers or conventional course
deviation indicators linked to those sources.
Even if your panel includes a GPS, those
radials help you confirm your position
relative to WUMOX, where you'll intercept
the glideslope; and, if you fly the missed
approach, join the OLM 346-degree radial
inbound to CARRO, which anchors the
hold. The plan view is also key to anticipating
which leg or waypoint you'll activate to
ensure that the GPS sequences correctly.
PWT is a nontowered airport, so you
also need to plan the best arrangement of
frequencies in your number 1 and 2 communications
radios for efficient switching
from approach control to the CTAF and
then back to ATC to cancel IFR on the
ground in the surface-based Class E airspace
if the weather is less than basic VFR.
Here's how I help IFR pilots use
the plan view for this approach. During
preflight planning, think about where
you'll navigate with the CDI set to GPS
(magenta) and when you should switch to
and confirm " green needles " to track the
localizer. At PWT, I tune the localizer, 111.1
MHz, in nav 1 active, with the OLM VOR,
113.4, in standby. If I fly the published miss,
that arrangement makes it easy to switch
from the localizer (no longer needed on the
initial heading leg) to monitor and join the
OLM 346-degree radial inbound, even if
I've activated the miss in the GPS. In nav 2,
I set 116.8 in active to confirm approaching
and crossing the SEA 282-degree radial
at WUMOX and later to help identify
CARRO. I have OLM standing by in nav
2 as additional backup. I'll talk to Seattle
Approach on 120.1 set in com 1 active,
with the CTAF, 123.05, ready to flip-flop
when ATC switches me to the advisory
frequency. In com 2 active, I check the
AWOS on 121.2, with 127.1, the frequency
to cancel IFR on the ground, in standby.
For more practice, map details from
the plan view for the ILS or LOC Runway
13R at Hillsboro, Oregon (HIO) near Portland,
to your panel.
Use the plan view to anticipate how best to set
up your avionics for each phase of an approach.
This setup for the nav radios helps you confirm
your position with VORs throughout the
approach. For example, on the downwind
vector, set the CDI to the LOC tuned in nav 1.
Link the number two bearing pointer to the SEA
VOR active in nav 2.
FLIGHT TRAINING JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2025
51
Flight Training - January/February 2025

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