The Circle to Land
A circle to land in daylight is bad but circling to land at night is worse. Because two different procedures are involved. During the day the circle to land is actually a contact approach in which you must keep the runway in sight while remaining clear of clouds. At night the circle requires that you remain clear of clouds and below any ceiling. You do not have time to scan the instruments if you are watching the runway. It is best that you keep your speed up until lined up with the runway.

Once you lose the runway, turn to the runway and go for the published missed. If you haven't briefed the missed you are in considerable do-do. If you are not well prepared for the missed it is best to avoid making the circling approach. Go missed before you reach the airport by climbing to the MAP before making any turns. Do this because it does not require the flying skills, the planning and situational awareness that must be part of any circling approach or missed. Don't go near an icing situation during a circle to land.

Circling Not Allowed
A circling approach cannot be made if straight in descent has gone below circling minimums. Any circling must (should) be to keep the airport and runway to be used in sight from the pilot's side. There are no circling minimums for an ILS approach. Minimum descent altitudes may be published for straight-in-landings, circles-to-land or both. Don’t use a lower straight in minimum for a circle because the 250’ obstacle clearance only applies to the centerline of the approach. Because of obstacles the direction to circle may be restricted to higher minimums. Read the chart notes.

Missed Approach
While the preflight preparation included a complete run-through of the missed procedure, a review is done outside the FAF perhaps by noting the procedure written in crayon on the windshield. The prepared student asks questions about radio settings, identifiers, and any changes from ‘as planned’. Among the vitals of position awareness are your equipment settings.

You already have the missed checklist out. At the missed you must have pre-decided the sequence of events that you will perform. In addition to the sequence you have pre-decided the timing you will use. Talking is way down on the list. Get the power in, go to the heading, set pitch attitude, and remove some flaps. Gear later, talking later.

A mandatory reporting point. The IFR missed approach is more demanding that a VFR go around because it will occur in IFR conditions. The first consideration in low IFR conditions is to relate these to your personal minimums. If a missed approach is a possibility, it would be best to hand fly the approach instead of using autopilot. Controllers may be unfamiliar with where a Missed Approach procedure goes. The published missed approach is often a non-radar procedure and not very efficient. The missed approach course usually approximates the approach course. If you forget the missed procedure, add full power and climb on runway heading.

We often become slaves to our training and fly the total time to the missed approach. Rather, at our personal minimums and Visual descent point we would execute the missed. Get away from the ground and obstacles, climb on course and don't turn until the published time runs out. Don't clean up the plane until everything is under control. Since you have memorized the first part of the missed approach procedure and radios are pre-set you don't need to refer to the plate. Don't do anything in a turn during the climbing missed except control the turn.

Should you experience a full CDI deflection at any time you can climb but you MUST not turn before reaching the missed approach point. There is no guaranteed obstacle clearance protection beyond the full deflection of the CDI until we reach the missed approach point. An early turn may present obstacles that exceed your maximum climb rate.

You are likely to make the mistake of not applying full power only once. Power comes first, then pitch, positive rate, gear and flaps. Any change in the order is going to be exciting. Every missed starts with a climb. If you happen to have dual navs set them both to the approach. The other option, of using the second nav for intersections or missed or for distance means that re-setting is required. This distraction may (will) create problems. With flip-flop nav critical fixes become relatively easy.

The ILS missed approach point is a given when the glide slope meets the decision altitude. If you are inside the marker don’t try to salvage a poor intercept. Some say not to time for a localizer approach if it detracts from the ILS. Fly one approach at a time.

VDPs (Visual Descent Points) are not charted when DME is available or when there is no local weather advisory. The VDP gives a charted point from which to commence a normal landing approach with the runway in view. Use of the VDP is discretionary. While there are complex ways to use the DME to find the VDP for normal and possible landing slope to the runway the easiest way that will work consists of: Take 10% the MDH, subtract that number in seconds from the approach time. At that time, if you do not have the required runway visual indicators commence your missed approach climb and turn when the time runs out. This method flexes and works for both altitude and airspeed differences.

For the straight-in non-precision approaches nothing beats having a pre-planned visual descent point. There are several ways of getting a self-made VDP. The easiest way is to take the MDA (HAT or HAA) and drop the last digit. Use the remaining figures (2) as seconds to be subtracted from the approach time. The 3-degree descent rate usually desired can be obtained by multiplying your ground speed by five. At 100 knots a 500 fpm descent is close to a three-degree descent.

Missed approaches do not occur often but the missed approach should be a part of your proficiency training after you have the rating. Get to a safe altitude before you become upset with the weather forecast, ATC or yourself. The unexpected missed is the most difficult IFR procedure of all. It will be much harder if some instrument fails at this time. Use your no-peekies on the missed for practice.

The missed approach has several problem areas. Following an incorrect procedure can fly you into an obstacle at worst and at best may not return you to the correct fix. An approach flown too far due to failure to determine the actual ground speed creates a distraction problem. Looking for the airport is the most usual accident causing distraction. A mistake in your ground speed that makes you look for the airport after you have already passed it can be a fatal distraction. Use the ATIS wind direction and speed to predetermine the indicated airspeed you will use on the approach.

Preparation for the missed begins with the weather. An ATIS can be up to an hour old. I would suggest never making a nonprecision approach if the weather makes the outcome doubtful. Except for training purposes successful non-precision approaches in minimum conditions will create dangerous habits and presumptions. Save yourself the aggravation and proceed to a precision approach facility.

The stress level of a second approach after the missed approach is much greater than for the first. If the miss is because of procedure or technique, you could try again. If the miss is because of weather, find an alternate. The temptation to go below your personal minimums is greater on a second approach. The second approach has a disproportionate number of fatal accidents.

AN ATC warning of course or altitude DEVIATION is sufficient notice to begin THE MISSED. If you do not continue to fly the course procedure until the time has run out you will not have guaranteed terrain clearance. Do not turn until past the missed approach point. A climb is allowed but no turns.

More on Missed Approaches
Some characteristics of an emergency exist in the missed approach. Far too many practice instrument approaches end in the missed instead of landings. The instructional reason most often is to avoid the ground delays occasioned by the full-stop. Just lately, to avoid such a delay contained in a warning by ATC, I opted to have a student enter a holding pattern. At the end of our eventual missed ATC thanked us for the help. Nice. However, since most not for practice approaches end in full-stop landings, such landings are much to be preferred. The ideal IFR program would control the weather so that all lessons could progress from near VFR conditions into low IFR conditions. Since my wife only controls the existence of head winds (always), I must adapt to the variables that exist in the real world.

According to the FARs, you must have only three variables under control to avoid the missed.
--First, you must be able to make a normal descent to a landing.
--Second, you must have a visually identified runway, runway markings or lights
--Third, you must have the minimum flight visibility required for the procedure.

Recognition of these requires judgment that is best acquired by experience. This experience requires that you plan in advance as to how you will perform to the specific conditions as they exist. For the non-precision approach you must come up with a visual-descent-point plan, know where to look for the visual runway clues, and know references for visual distance. For the precision approach there is no need for a visual-descent-point, it is best that at some point on the approach, say inside the inner marker, that you slow up and configure for landing. Runway behind you has no value.

While the DH of the ILS will allow a normal landing if you have slowed up, the MDA of the non-precision approach allows no such option. If you reach the MDA you will not be able to make a normal landing. You must accept the necessity for the circle-to-land procedure. You can decrease this necessity by getting to the MDA as soon as possible to increase your visual reference margin. Flying a slower approach speed is another way to avoid the circling approach. It helps to know the length of any lighting array and runway you are using. These should be a part of any pre-approach briefing.

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