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VPT Le Touquet

are the 2.1 and 3 a time or a dme and if a dme is it using 110.15

Here is the Jepp version

An interesting question! It can’t be DME because no DME is referenced on the plate (etc).

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

It is a visual approach chart, they must be distances but can’t be off an aid. They are just describing the shape and size of the circuit.

EGTK Oxford

Those are distances in NM – in case of DME values the French put the identifier behind like in Avignon e.g. 2.2AN. If a timing is meant it would read e.g. 2min .

EDxx, Germany

The real Q is how are you supposed to fly that pattern!

If you have that plate as a GPS moving map then you just follow that. But that needs a product like JeppFD, or the old Jeppview+Flitedeck, or some other app that has georeferenced AIP charts, or some bootleg solution. Generally, in aviation, people don’t have that capability. Even I don’t have that

Has anybody georeferenced the AIP charts, anyway, for use as a moving map? AFAIK they come only as PDFs so somebody would have to do it manually, maybe with a bit of software which OCRs them and picks off the lat/long values. Then you have to find a moving map product to run them under. Oziexplorer would be the obvious solution because it has no recurring cost.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

I don’t think they expect you to be that accurate – after all, in a visual approach you are supposed to be looking out the window (this is France, not Germany…).

I would fly it by reference to the landmarks – fly to the mouth of the estuary, parallel the coast to just before/just after the second tower, track 134ish until I cross the railway line, then turn on to final.

Last Edited by jwoolard at 28 Oct 09:48
EGEO

As they give you tracks and distances you fly the pattern using heading and stopwatch corrected for wind. I usually set OBS 314deg so I can see the inbound track, the wind is often westerly so its easy to get blown too close to make the turn onto final. It does feel very low over the town if you are flying it at minimum. As its a visiual circuit you should have the field in sight for most of the circuit.

I don’t understand giving you 2.1 and 3.0 if there is no way to measure it? I understand it is a visual procedure and you would be in site of the airfield. I was just wondering what the point of putting it on the plate.

As they give you tracks and distances you fly the pattern using heading and stopwatch corrected for wind.

You could do that I suppose. I would just use a heading and look out the window.

EGTK Oxford

What you did not show above is the little box on the LFAT IAC 03 that shows the minima for a circling app to RWY 03. For aircraft CAT A it is MDA 570ft and Vis 1500m – for an aircraft CAT C it is 670/ 2400m. A circling is a visual manoeuver under bad weather conditions, otherwise you could fly a normal visual pattern.
However you should stay in visual contact with the runway all the time.
Looking at the CAT C pattern with a 3NM long downwind you will have lost visual contact with the threshold 03 at the latest when turning base with a minimum meteorological visibility of 2400m. I don’t know why they publish that large pattern with such a low vis minimum ( CAT A only 1500m).
There are two methods to calculate circling areas a) PANS OPS b) TERPS
Both lead to different circling areas and more or less obstacles involved which are then essential for the MDAs.
TERPS adds 300ft to the obstacle height to establish the OCH (obstacle clearance height) – in our case the trees on final with 242ft height plus 300ft = 542ft rounded up to 550ft height and a MDA of 570ft
I guess the distances on the chart help the commercial operators to establish their company minima for that circling approach, nevertheless those in the box are the lowest ones given by the state authority – but hardly flyable …

Last Edited by nobbi at 28 Oct 11:44
EDxx, Germany
23 Posts
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