AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2021 - 94

P&E

ON INSTRUMENTS

CIRCLING IN THE SIM

During my training at Simcom, I flew two
circling approaches. Both were at night.
One was at New York's John F. Kennedy
International, where I was vectored for
the ILS Runway 4R, with a circle to land
on Runway 31R. This is an approach that's
been approved for use in Simcom's simulators, as well as those at FlightSafety
International and CAE.
I broke out at 700 feet msl, so I was in
the clear by the time I descended to the
640-foot circling minimum altitude. The
visual display showed JFK and its runways,
taxiways, terminals, and hangars in all their
glory. It was a confusion of lights, but after
sidestepping to the right I maneuvered to
a heading that I figured would put me on a
base leg for 31R. I could have used the TBM
930's autopilot to fly the leg, but decided
to hand-fly. After 10 seconds or so, I still
hadn't positively identified 31R-and this
was in good visibility. I was flying at 120
knots, so time was of the essence.
Finally, I saw what looked like a horizontal illuminated structure-maybe
the blast fence noted on the runway diagram-with runway alignment lights to its
right. Next, it was quick-go to the landing flap setting, motor over to line up with
the runway, slow to 85 knots, and fly to the
threshold. To me, the risks on this particular approach were on the low side, even
though it was night. The lights of the vast
runway complex made it somewhat easy
to locate the landing runway, there was
adequate visibility, and the distance to the
landing runway allowed a gradual turn
onto the final approach.
The rules say that you can't descend
from the minimum descent altitude until
you're in a position to make a " normal " landing. I take that to mean that you're lined up
on the extended runway centerline, and
there was plenty of room to get there with
a fairly shallow bank. Last but not least, this
approach had an expanded circling radius,
so instead of being held to earlier, 1.5-nm
radius limits, I had 1.7 nm of room to work
with. An expanded circling radius is identified on approach plates in the minimums
information blocks at the bottom of the
page. You'll see a white " C " embedded in a
black box if there is expanded circling.

94 | AOPA PILOT January 2021

THE FLIGHT PATH (in red) shows a track for circling to JFK's Runway 31R out of the ILS

approach to Runway 4L. With adequate visibility it can be easy to spot 31R.

CIRCLING TO TRUCKEE, California's Runway 29 out of the RNAV (GPS) approach to runway

20 can be tricky in low visibility. Terrain is nearby, and you're left at 1,216 feet agl (category
A) or 1,316 feet agl (category B) for a very steep descent to the runway. The approach
flown for this article ended in a missed approach (flight path in red).

Another circling approach was vastly different. It was Truckee-Tahoe's RNAV (GPS)
Runway 20 approach with a circle to land
on Runway 29. Truckee is in mountainous
terrain, the approach path threads its way

down a valley, and the minimums are higher.
The expanded circling minimums are 7,120
feet (Category A) and 7,220 feet (Category B),
which have you levelling off at 1,216 and 1,316
feet agl, respectively. There's not much room

AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2021

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