AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - February 2023 - T-8

Lee Airport is the definition of " shoehorned
in. " The runway is 2,500 feet long
by 48 feet wide. Considering that the wingspan
of a Cessna 172 is only 36 feet, it's
more like using a sidewalk than a runway.
To make things more interesting, the west
end of the field has trees on one side that
cause the wind to burble. Also, the runway
has displaced thresholds at either end, so
the landing distance available is even less.
Because of its location, small size, and surrounding
structures, the airport is hard to
find from any kind of distance.
Prior to the advent of GPS, there was
T-8
no real way to build a reliable instrument
approach. There were no navaids that
could be used for a straight-in procedure,
the airport doesn't warrant an ILS,
and it meets none of the terminal instrument
procedures criteria for having one.
But with GPS, there is a single approach
that you can use now, which is the RNAV
GPS-A that comes in to Runway 30, the
primary runway.
The approach starts across the
Chesapeake Bay, over Kent Island. In VFR
conditions, this is noteworthy because
there are two airports on Kent Island, one
of which is the Kentmoor Airpark (3W3),
which is almost right under the approach
course. North of that is Stevensville/Bay
Bridge (W29), which is a busy training airport.
If the weather is good you can expect
quite a bit of traffic, so you may need to
monitor two different radio frequencies.
The approach itself is pretty straightforward,
as you will cross AMRTN no
lower than 2,000 feet. You'll notice that
the maximum crossing altitude is 6,000
feet, which is an unusual notation, but
it is there not only to make sure you can
safely descend, but also because you will
be passing under the Washington, D.C.,
Tri-area Class B, as Baltimore-Washington
International/Thurgood Marshall Airport
(BWI) is less than 20 miles north.
After crossing AMRTN, the final
approach fix is DENII, which is 4.5 miles
from the runway. You'll notice that the
descent angle is 3.06 degrees, a bit higher
than a standard/preferred 3 degrees. The
higher descent angle calls for a slightly
higher minimum descent altitude. Because
there is no unicom, you will have to use
BWI's altimeter, which also forces higher
minimums. In this case, the approach is
considered a circling approach, so the
minimum descent altitude is 660 feet.
The airport doesn't have much in the way
of lighting, so at night the procedure is not
authorized. Coming in over the bay can
also present the problem of dense fog. If
it's foggy over the bay, it may well be foggy
over the airport, as it sits so close to the
South River.
If you need to get into Lee, and the
weather is marginal or better, that's one
thing. At the very least, file an alternate. If
you really need to get into Annapolis, use
BWI or W29. Chip Wright is an airline
pilot and frequent contributor to AOPA
publications.
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AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - February 2023

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