Following a related discussion on the Silicon Valley General Aviation mail list, I made a list of the FAA's plans for upcoming new instrument approaches in California. This list is from the FAA's National Aeronautical Charting Office (NACO). It's info anyone can get - but hopefully the formatting makes it more easily accessible.
This should mainly be of interest to instrument-rated pilots who fly in California, and pilots who are or plan to get training for their instrument rating in California.
Now that I have software to generate this list from their plans, I'll update it regularly.
Here are some highlights from their current plans...
This should mainly be of interest to instrument-rated pilots who fly in California, and pilots who are or plan to get training for their instrument rating in California.
Now that I have software to generate this list from their plans, I'll update it regularly.
Here are some highlights from their current plans...
- Napa (KAPC), Marysville (KMYV), Redding (KRDD) and Salinas (KSNS) just got their GPS approaches upgraded to LPV on Aug 27.
- Mojave (KMHV) will get new GPS (non-WAAS) approaches on Sept 24
- Barstow-Daggett (KDAG) will get a GPS approach upgraded to LPV on Oct 22.
- Tracy (KTCY) will get a new GPS (non-WAAS) approach on Oct 22.
- Los Banos (KLSN) and Livermore (KLVK) will get new GPS/LPV approaches on Dec 17.
- Auburn will get a new GPS/LPV approach on Feb 11, 2010.
- Reid-Hillview (KRHV), my home airport, will get two new LPV approaches on April 8, 2010.
- Watsonville (KWVI) will get a new GPS (non-WAAS) approach on June 3, 2010.
For some airports, an LPV (Localizer Performance with Vertical guidance) approach is almost like getting an Instrument Landing System (ILS). If there aren't obstructions around the airport, an LPV can have minimums as low as 200' AGL just like an ILS. In most cases, the minimums will still be higher.
But if you consider some airports like Reid-Hillview in San Jose, our current non-WAAS GPS approach has minimums at 1440' or higher, which is usually well in the clouds when we have weather. The LPV approaches certainly will be higher than 200' minimums due to terrain, obstructions, and a badly-placed shopping mall. But as long as the minimums are below about 1000' then it should be a lot more useful.
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