Hey all,
So I’ve been practicing airport approaches lately and I think I have worked out how to manage an ILS approach. However I have just realised that I have no idea how to approach an airport without an ILS. In the scenario below I have setup a low-altitude flight plan from YMEN to YGRL (runway 8). YGRL does not have an ILS and the airport itself is very small and not very well documented. A GPS approach will take me to the airport, but won’t line me up with the runway.
What is the best way to work out how to line up the aircraft with the runway when ILS isn’t available?
I was thinking of just following the GPS until I get to the airport and then turning around to land on runway 26 instead, but not sure if this is the most efficient way to do this.
Any help here would be appreciated. Cheers!
In this case, as it is a private airport with no published Certified instrument approach procedures, the airport will need to be under visual flight rules in order to land.
In that case, you would follow your GPS course until you have a visual sighting of the airport. From there, you would simply enter a standard pattern to land.
I’d you’re unaware of how to enter a standard traffic pattern, you can google it.
From the course on your screenshot, (I haven’t read the airports website to see their own procedures in regards to left or right traffic / noise abatement etc) if the weather was making runway 8 active, you would probably enter a right base, then turn final. You could also do a straight in approach. (Again, it’s visual, you literally just use your eyes to line yourself up with the runway)
If you were landing on runway 26, you would simply enter a 45 degree left downwind, then turn left base, then final, to land.
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Great - thanks for helping out. I figured I might need to use the standard traffic pattern, but wasn’t sure if there wasn’t perhaps a better way. I am familiar with the concept of the standard traffice pattern (from memory FSX might have had a lesson covering it) but haven’t really used it so wouldn’t really know what to do. I’ll find some YouTube videos and practice.
PS. Tried flying straight in a couple of times and it didn’t end well at all. 
Thanks again for the pointers - appreciated!
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Also remember, there’s nothing wrong with finding the airfield and doing an overflight (usually at least 500 feet above the pattern altitude). You can circle over and find the runway, then fly out from it and re enter the pattern at a 45 degree onto the downwind again.
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