AOPA Pilot Magazine - May 2019 - 93

ON INSTRUMENTS

Going missed
Tense times at the missed approach point
BY THOMAS A. HORNE
THERE ARE simple missed approach

ROBERT N. BUCK, in one passage of his
classic book Weather Flying, states that
"most of the time, thank heaven, the
weather is good." Of course, there's a corollary to that pronouncement: Sometimes
it definitely isn't. If your preflight briefing
reveals that low clouds or visibilities, frontal weather, icing, or thunderstorms will
be factors along your route of flight, then
that's when instrument flying comes into
play. And if your destination's forecast-
from one hour before to one hour after
your estimated time of arrival (ETA)-
includes a ceiling below 2,000 feet above
the airport elevation and/or a visibility
below three statute miles, then an alternate airport must be named in your flight
plan. This so-called 1-2-3 rule serves as
a not-so-subtle reminder that there's a

chance your arrival may be complicated
by having to perform a missed approach
procedure.
A missed approach is the IFR equivalent of a go-around in VFR operations.
But it involves following a defined set of
procedures should your visibility be compromised during the trip down the final
approach course. In short, if you can't see
the runway environment when you reach
the missed approach point as defined on
an instrument approach plate, then you
must climb away, following the published
missed approach procedure.
In instrument approaches to airports
served by approach lighting systems, you
have a better chance of seeing the allimportant runway environment. That's
because threshold lights, runway end

identifier lights, touchdown zone lights,
or runway lights can make the runway
and its surroundings easier to see in lowvisibility conditions. Even so, by the time
you descend to the published decision
height (DH-above ground level), decision altitude (DA-above mean sea level),
or minimum descent altitude (MDA-
also above mean sea level, published for
nonprecision approaches), you have to
be able to see the runway and descend to
the touchdown zone at a normal rate of
descent using normal maneuvers.
If the runway is served by the most
sophisticated lighting, Approach Light
System Sequenced Flashing arrays (the
ALSF-1 and ALSF-2), then you are legally
permitted to continue the approach and
descend as low as 100 feet above the
touchdown zone elevation as long as the
red terminating bars or red side row bars
are distinctly visible. This can be a big
help when flying precision approaches-
those with vertical guidance-to the
common, typically ideal 200-and-a-half
(200 feet agl, one-half statute mile visibility) approach minimums.
All these lights and markings may
help guide you to the runway, but the

NE-4, 28 FEB 2019 to 28 MAR 2019

NE-4, 28 FEB 2019 to 28 MAR 2019

NE-4, 28 FEB 2019 to 28 MAR 2019

procedures, and those that are complex. High
terrain, a remote location, and a part-time
tower conspire to give Lewisburg, West
Virginia, a procedure with multiple turns
before entering the missed approach holding
pattern at RUFYO. Check all those notes-fog
in this mountainous area can easily reduce
visibility minimums, especially at night.

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NE-4, 28 FEB 2019 to 28 MAR 2019

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AOPA Pilot Magazine - May 2019

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