Circle to land question

[HoratioWondersocks 4]

Hello AllOn a flt last night HECA-LTBA i was requested by ATC to descend to x and expect vectors ILS rwy 27 circle to land rwy 9.Now I have come across these circle to land apps before but rarely, it seems that 98 percent of FS apps are ILS or visual.I know what is required ie I approached as normal ILS 27 but carried on that course obviously not landing 27 but preparing to circle entering right traffic to land rwy9.I have been doing 'normal' ILS apps for years so i am no novice,but the one thing I have yet to do is a backcourse approach and my question is this.....Is this circle to land approach something to do with a backcourse approach?I did have a fiddle with the backcourse and approach buttons as i passed over the airport preparing to land rwy9,but didn't really know what I was doing so in the end I just settled for disconnecting the autopilot and doing the whole thing by hand(fortunately my manual flying is pretty good now)and made a good landing on rwy9.Was I right to do the procedure manually or are circle to land approaches something to do with using the backcourse button?As I usually say..If that lot makes any sense please can you help.I do like to do things in an accurate as manor possible rather than just guessing.Cheers AndyPS I have got to get that circle to land rwy x SIDESTEP rwy y app sorted as well sometime too,.but will leave that for another day. :(

[N60JBravo 27]

Circle to land, backcourse and sidestep approaches are an economical way to provide more approaches to an airport without the need for added equipment. These are sometimes called non-aligned approaches. Their purpose is to get you below the clouds so you can make a visual landing on a more wind favorable runway. They will have higher minimums than an ILS.In a circle to land you would descend along the ILS until either 1) you reach the decision height without seeing the runway and go missed approach or 2) you can report the runway in sight and break off the ILS and enter a standard traffic pattern. If at any time you loose sight of the runway in the pattern you would declare a missed approach and follow the published procedure.Hope this clears it up a bit.Joe

[onurksn 1]

Hello AllOn a flt last night HECA-LTBA i was requested by ATC to descend to x and expect vectors ILS rwy 27 circle to land rwy 9.Now I have come across these circle to land apps before but rarely, it seems that 98 percent of FS apps are ILS or visual.I know what is required ie I approached as normal ILS 27 but carried on that course obviously not landing 27 but preparing to circle entering right traffic to land rwy9.I have been doing 'normal' ILS apps for years so i am no novice,but the one thing I have yet to do is a backcourse approach and my question is this.....Is this circle to land approach something to do with a backcourse approach?I did have a fiddle with the backcourse and approach buttons as i passed over the airport preparing to land rwy9,but didn't really know what I was doing so in the end I just settled for disconnecting the autopilot and doing the whole thing by hand(fortunately my manual flying is pretty good now)and made a good landing on rwy9.Was I right to do the procedure manually or are circle to land approaches something to do with using the backcourse button?As I usually say..If that lot makes any sense please can you help.I do like to do things in an accurate as manor possible rather than just guessing.Cheers AndyPS I have got to get that circle to land rwy x SIDESTEP rwy y app sorted as well sometime too,.but will leave that for another day. :(

Hello Andy,If it's LTBA that's concerned then it's RWY 06-24. :( I assume you were not flying IFR to get a circle to land instruction. Did you request another approach or runway? This is certainly very interesting. In real life you would be manually flying that procedure anyway, while keeping an eye on the instruments. This approach isn't available for LTBA, I think it was in the past though. It is available for LTFJ, the second airport in Istanbul.Joe's post sums up what I know about circle -to-land and backcourse approaches, the latter as a reference when the runway only has an ILS signal in one direction. Modern airliners don't have backcourse modes so I guess it isn't used that much anymore.

[HoratioWondersocks 4]

Hello Andy,If it's LTBA that's concerned then it's RWY 06-24. :( I assume you were not flying IFR to get a circle to land instruction. Did you request another approach or runway? This is certainly very interesting. In real life you would be manually flying that procedure anyway, while keeping an eye on the instruments. This approach isn't available for LTBA, I think it was in the past though. It is available for LTFJ, the second airport in Istanbul.Joe's post sums up what I know about circle -to-land and backcourse approaches, the latter as a reference when the runway only has an ILS signal in one direction. Modern airliners don't have backcourse modes so I guess it isn't used that much anymore.

Apologies to you.In my original post i said LTBA, it should have been OSAP( Aleppo)

[scott967 62]

The commonly used localizer antenna today uses the log-periodic design. In this design most of the RF energy is on the frontcourse side of the antenna. Thus, there isn't much reason to try to certify the backcourse for use as a directional aid. There is a significant number of circling approaches with names such as VOR A, VOR B, GPS Z, etc.scott s..

[HoratioWondersocks 4]

Circle to land, backcourse and sidestep approaches are an economical way to provide more approaches to an airport without the need for added equipment. These are sometimes called non-aligned approaches. Their purpose is to get you below the clouds so you can make a visual landing on a more wind favorable runway. They will have higher minimums than an ILS.In a circle to land you would descend along the ILS until either 1) you reach the decision height without seeing the runway and go missed approach or 2) you can report the runway in sight and break off the ILS and enter a standard traffic pattern. If at any time you loose sight of the runway in the pattern you would declare a missed approach and follow the published procedure.Hope this clears it up a bit.Joe

Thanks for your input Joe.You have cleared up some points for me.I will have to look into this subject in more detail though.cheers Andy