Some of the discussions on here recently about methods of flying approaches and reading some of the discussions in Trips and Airports have made me think about GA approaches in poor weather. Although in the IR, all approaches are obviously trained under screens/hood/in the sim to minima, how often do you fly approaches to minima? Was the decision process of hold/try another approach/divert discussed in any depth?
I fly maybe 350-400 legs a year and because I’m a boring sod I make a note of approaches right at minima – I fly maybe 30 a year so around 6% of my approaches in an operation where if it’s legal, we go. In terms of SEP/MEP, I can count a sum total of 4 (3 ILS, 1 RNAV) in 3 years of GA IFR flying. How often do you fly approaches to minima, and how do you approach them? (Forgive the pun!)
How many approaches would you try, and why? How much alternate fuel do you have? I know some of you if you fill up have the luxury of basically going back home again on full tanks.
In the commercial world there is normally a ban on more than 2 approaches in any given weather conditions, as the accident stats on attempting a 3rd approach in limiting weather are utterly awful – the most recent case that comes to mind is the Metroliner in Cork
I have a fairly simple procedure. If it is legal I will try the approach. I won’t depart enroute into an expected low IFR approach without as much fuel as I can legally carry and a good diversion airport as I don’t want a fuel emergency as well as bad weather. That diversion may well be a fair way away from my destination but so long as I can reach it safely with reserves it serves its purpose. I may try a second approach particularly if I didn’t perform the first approach accurately enough but if it seems hopeless I may just divert after 1. I would not try a third.
I have had 5 approaches to minima (ie minima+50 feet) this year.
I have held at Luxembourg in LVP conditions that were expected to improve, they didn’t after 20 minutes so diverted to Cologne. I think the secret is to be current and always accept in aviation you may not get to your destination. Fly the approach but if it isn’t on there is not much you can do about it.
However I am often surprised how many IFR pilots won’t fly approaches to (or close to) minima. I think it is a great challenge and the joy of being able to fly IFR is to complete flights that would not be able to be done VFR.
Josh wrote:
In the commercial world there is normally a ban on more than 2 approaches in any given weather conditions
I have been flying for several commercial operators, but never heard of such a ban. In real life it is rather academic anyway as in many jet operations there would be no fuel for repeated approaches.
Josh wrote:
How often do you fly approaches to minima, and how do you approach them?
I make no statistics, but maybe around ten per year. How do I approach them? Exactly like any other approach. I try to fly every instrument approach down to minimum as if there was nothing to see outside, so everything will be just as always. If the final is not very long or in the case of a non-precision approach I will fly fully configured and at Vref + 10…20 for at least 4 NM. Maybe aurally identify the ILS instead of just relying of the identifier displayed on the screen. But nothing else.
Josh wrote:
Was the decision process of hold/try another approach/divert discussed in any depth?
In times of poor weather we discuss this topic before takeoff.Depending on how much extra fuel we can take and how far the alternate(s) are away. If we have to do a go-around due to no contact at minimum the course of action is pretty clear with no further need for discussion. Which happens less than once per year to me – not because I cheat but because we try to find a solution beforehand: either go to a different airport right away so that the passengers can arrange transportation in time or delay the flight. So far I have almost never (less than 5 times in 25 years of IFR flying) performed a second approach at the same field after a go-around.
NB: A recent example: Last week (Tuesday I think) we flew back home in the early evening. Expected landing was around 6PM local time. The last METAR before departure was CAVOK, the TAF forecast fog only after 8PM LT. Piece of cake one should think. When we were in ATIS range – around half hour before arrival or so – there was a big surprise: The fog had already started to build up. There were special met reports on the ATIS at 5 minute intervals with the RVR 1/2 of what it was the last time. When we approached, we had patches of fog, broken at 100ft and overcast at 300ft. The latest RVR passed to us during the approach was 1000m. (550 would have been our minimum). So we continued and just saw enough approach lights to land. In case of a go-around, it would have been a waste of time and fuel to try another approach. Our first alternate (EDSB) had already gone below alternate minima at the last ATIS transmission, our second alternate (EDDN) was still good, but decreasing. So we would have diverted right away. However, 10 minutes before the approach we had overflown EDTY which still had CAVOK and which we would overfly again on our way to EDDN. So although the decision had been long taken to divert to EDDN in case of no-contact, we would have asked our passengers if they would rather go to EDTY instead, because it would have been much closer for them to drive home.
I seem to do a fair few to minima – but like what_next, I aim to fly every instrument approach accurately to minima so that if I NEED to I am familiar and current.
Whilst now flying for an airline, I did previously fly an MEP around the UK commercially and the same applied there, quite a lot of approaches to minima because if it was legal to go, we would go. Being an MEP there was less pressure from above about fuel so we tended to take as much as we could to stay within M&B limits. Whether or not we made more than 1 or 3 approaches would have depended upon circumstances like whether or not it would affect the operation more to hold and see if weather was improving for maybe quite some time or to divert to somewhere else. Obviously weather was taken into account in this as well, and if we were legally able to make an approach (550m typically) but after doing one approach and seeing NOTHING at minima, with weather forecast to get worse then often we would go somewhere else fairly promptly. If we did the approach and maybe got ground contact a couple of times or even got the lights but they dissapeared at the wrong time, then maybe we would try it a couple more times because often you just need that one thick bit of cloud to move slightly.
I probably fly about 5 approaches each year to the minima or thereabouts, and land. I can certainly recall several to Biggin EGKB in OVC003 or similar. Typically these are diversions, where Shoreham is totally fogged in so you descend there first (on RNAV 02, usually there is no wind in these cases) and at the MDA of 430ft you see absolutely nothing.
I agree that trying an approach 3 times is usually a bad idea but where you have clear conditions all around the airport and just bits of fog moving through the middle of it, you could get lucky. Under any stable weather there is no point. I might try once and then divert.
As regards fuel carried, I normally work on 20 USG minimum LFOB (landing fuel on board) forecast by the fuel totaliser + GPS. Exceptionally, where the destination and all alternates are CAVOK (data obtained over the satellite phone) or so, I will go lower. In 2014 I did two landings with 14.6 USG, both after flights of about 7.5 to 8hrs airborne time. At 10 USG/hr in cruise, that is still legal reserves.
It leads to the interesting debate whether to run one tank empty 
I would not do that but have gone to within 20 mins of that. I have a “low fuel” warning which comes on at 8 USG in either tank, which is say 45 mins’ flying time, so I will run that tank down for a further 25 mins.
In GA one does need good alternates, because the speeds are so low, and suitable airports are often few. One cannot go to Gatwick EGKK unless one is “on fire” because it will cost you about 700 quid, massive parking bills (probably four figures per month), and lots of questions will be asked because the place is 24hrs PPR for GA. It will also make the papers 
As a Private pilot I fly about 15 instrument approaches a year for real (although in practise I fly about another 3 Instrument approaches per month).
Of those flown for ‘real’ last year, only 1 was to ‘minima’.
Interestingly, in nearly 20 years of Instrument flying, I have never had to to do a ‘missed approach’ for real.
This may be because I set myself a more cautious minimum: I will not even attempt a procedure if the weather is forecast less than DH +50ft.
In the SEPs i have flown running a tank dry is a non-issue, sounds much more scary than it is … I’ve done it once for real in the Warrior to get max range, and once in the Cirrus circling overhead the airport to find out what the fuel gauge shows when the tank is empty. It showed empty :-)
Both times i switched on the boost pump before the tank would be empty, and when the engine started coughing i put the fuel selctor on the other tank, absolutely no problem. In the Warrior there was less than 1 litre left, in the Cirrus about 1.5 or 2 liters.
I fly about 5-10 IAPs, year, but i didn’t have one down to the minimum all year, probably because of my conservative planning. Most were about 500-800 ft AGL. I don’t fly when it’s that bad. I did one to absolute minimums at my IR check, … which is always in January so i have a good chance to have bad weather…
I would say that for most European “private” pilots (not flying commercially and not flying for business), the number of approaches flown to minima are very low (unless one goes out regularly in the right conditions in order to practice).
Reasons:
From my usual flying, I tend to just be able to always be within the FAA “6/6” requirement. And of those approaches, very few are to close to minimums.
I could count my total number of approaches to (or close) to minimums (600 BKN or 2000 meters vis doesn’t count) on three hands. And that’s on about 15 years and 800 IFR hours.
I also have never had to unintentionally go missed.
I will not even attempt a procedure if the weather is forecast less than DH +50ft.
You mean forecast, not actual?
