Instrument rated pilots... It's a new 56-day cycle today on FAA published instrument procedures. I have the list of new procedures here at PilotQuest.Com being automatically updated weekly for California and the entire US.In California, the big winner today is Auburn Municipal Airport, with a brand new RNAV GPS approach with WAAS and LPV. The old " GPS RWY 07" has been superseded by "RNAV (GPS) RWY 07" (link to PDF of procedure).
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Details about Auburn's new LPV approach
For those pilots who aren't yet instrument rated but want to be (or people who want to become pilots), that's a GPS-based instrument approach with higher precision because it uses WAAS (the Wide Area Augmentaton System). LPV means "localizer precision with vertical guidance", which means the approach has a glideslope indication like an ILS. In fact, places with no nearby obstacles can have 200' AGL minimums on LPV approaches just like an ILS. Of course, with the terrain around Auburn, the minimums had to be higher. Under ideal circumstances, it's 315' AGL. That's better than the 450' minimums there were before on the GPS approach there.
But there's always a catch. If GPS reception isn't good, your IFR GPS receiver won't authorize LPV minimums for that approach, falling back to LNAV/VNAV (lower precision but still with vertical guidance) or even just LNAV (no vertical guidance). And if you're using the altimeter setting from Lincoln instead of Auburn, then the minimums go even higher. It's all on the published procedure. Hopefully the cloud ceiling will be above your minimums when you fly the approach. But never hesitate to fly the missed approach procedure upon reaching the minimum if you can't see the runway environment. Descending below the decision altitude (DA) without seeing the runway is dangerous, and statistically the cause of many IFR flying accidents.
Lancaster's new GPS approach
Lancaster is apparently the runner-up in the upgraded instrument approach prizes today in California. Lancaster's Fox Field (KWJF) already had an LPV approach for Runway 6. But it got a new LNAV approach for Runway 24 today.
New CTAF at Tracy
This isn't on the schedule of instrument procedure changes. But it was pointed out via Twitter by @Captain_Ron (thanks!) that there's a new CTAF (common traffic advisory frequency) at Tracy Municipal Airport (KTCY) today. I looked it up - it changed to 123.07. Since Tracy is a non-towered airport, the CTAF is the frequency that pilots use to coordinate runway and traffic pattern usage with each other.
Other upcoming approaches in California
The next 56-day publishing cycle will be on April 8. In California, Hawthorne, Shafter and San Diego will get new LPV approaches.
A notable missing item from that day is my home airport, San Jose's Reid-Hillview Airport. Originally RHV was supposed to get 2 new LPV approaches (one each for Runways 31R and 13L) today. Then last Summer it was postponed to April 8. Then in December I noticed it was pushed back again, now to June 3. Sigh. We could really use those LPV approaches because the current LNAV/VNAV approach has 1440' AGL minimums that are usually higher than the clouds when we have weather here. Oh well... we wait.
Under the current schedule, the July 29 update will have new LPV approaches for Alturas, Hanford and Lincoln. Paso Robles will get an LPV approach on September 23. And some new LPV approaches are planned in 2011 for Crescent City and Oroville.
But you never know if there will be more changes in the schedule. Sometimes it may take longer than expected to develop a procedure. But other times airlines put pressure on the FAA to bump up the schedule on their preferred new approaches.
For those pilots who aren't yet instrument rated but want to be (or people who want to become pilots), that's a GPS-based instrument approach with higher precision because it uses WAAS (the Wide Area Augmentaton System). LPV means "localizer precision with vertical guidance", which means the approach has a glideslope indication like an ILS. In fact, places with no nearby obstacles can have 200' AGL minimums on LPV approaches just like an ILS. Of course, with the terrain around Auburn, the minimums had to be higher. Under ideal circumstances, it's 315' AGL. That's better than the 450' minimums there were before on the GPS approach there.
But there's always a catch. If GPS reception isn't good, your IFR GPS receiver won't authorize LPV minimums for that approach, falling back to LNAV/VNAV (lower precision but still with vertical guidance) or even just LNAV (no vertical guidance). And if you're using the altimeter setting from Lincoln instead of Auburn, then the minimums go even higher. It's all on the published procedure. Hopefully the cloud ceiling will be above your minimums when you fly the approach. But never hesitate to fly the missed approach procedure upon reaching the minimum if you can't see the runway environment. Descending below the decision altitude (DA) without seeing the runway is dangerous, and statistically the cause of many IFR flying accidents.
Lancaster's new GPS approach
Lancaster is apparently the runner-up in the upgraded instrument approach prizes today in California. Lancaster's Fox Field (KWJF) already had an LPV approach for Runway 6. But it got a new LNAV approach for Runway 24 today.
New CTAF at Tracy
This isn't on the schedule of instrument procedure changes. But it was pointed out via Twitter by @Captain_Ron (thanks!) that there's a new CTAF (common traffic advisory frequency) at Tracy Municipal Airport (KTCY) today. I looked it up - it changed to 123.07. Since Tracy is a non-towered airport, the CTAF is the frequency that pilots use to coordinate runway and traffic pattern usage with each other.
Other upcoming approaches in California
The next 56-day publishing cycle will be on April 8. In California, Hawthorne, Shafter and San Diego will get new LPV approaches.
A notable missing item from that day is my home airport, San Jose's Reid-Hillview Airport. Originally RHV was supposed to get 2 new LPV approaches (one each for Runways 31R and 13L) today. Then last Summer it was postponed to April 8. Then in December I noticed it was pushed back again, now to June 3. Sigh. We could really use those LPV approaches because the current LNAV/VNAV approach has 1440' AGL minimums that are usually higher than the clouds when we have weather here. Oh well... we wait.
Under the current schedule, the July 29 update will have new LPV approaches for Alturas, Hanford and Lincoln. Paso Robles will get an LPV approach on September 23. And some new LPV approaches are planned in 2011 for Crescent City and Oroville.
But you never know if there will be more changes in the schedule. Sometimes it may take longer than expected to develop a procedure. But other times airlines put pressure on the FAA to bump up the schedule on their preferred new approaches.
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