Approach Procedures — Page 185, Lesson 268

We're now into the missed approach and the published information. Let's pick up with the navigation of the missed approach. When you reach the MAPt — that's the Missed Approach Point — and you haven't established the required visual reference, the procedure demands that you initiate the missed approach at once. The whole point is obstacle protection. You fly the missed approach exactly as published. Now, here's a subtle but important rule: if you decide to go around before you actually reach the MAPt, you are still expected to fly to the MAPt first, and then follow the missed approach procedure. That keeps you inside the protected airspace. And one more flexibility: you're allowed to cross over the MAPt at an altitude or height higher than the procedure requires — that's fine, it doesn't violate anything. Now let's break down the missed approach into its phases. First, the Intermediate Phase. This is where the climb continues, normally straight ahead, but you're permitted turns of up to 15 degrees, provided you stay within the straight departure criteria. The Minimum Obstacle Clearance, the MOC, in this segment is 30 metres. This segment extends all the way to the first point where you obtain and can maintain 50 metres — that's 164 feet — of obstacle clearance. The climb gradient required here is 2.5%, and it parallels the OIS — the Obstacle Identification Surface. Then we have the Final Phase. This begins exactly at that point where the 50-metre, or 164-foot, obstacle clearance is first obtained and can be maintained. It extends from there to the point where you initiate a new approach, enter a holding pattern, or return to en-route flight. In this final phase, full turns may be prescribed — so unlike the intermediate phase's 15-degree limit, here the procedure can call for complete turns. Let me show you how the missed approach point and these phases fit together on a chart. Now, moving on to the Published Information. All the details about instrument arrivals are published on what we call Terminal Approach Plates — usually just referred to as "plates." The example plates we're looking at are the UK CAA plates for the London Luton self-positioned ILS for runway 08. The design of these plates meets the requirements of ICAO Annex 4. Now, commercially produced plates are also available — companies like Jeppesen and Aerad produce them, and some operators even produce their own. Here's a critical point about responsibility: an ICAO plate will not show aerodrome operating minima. That's because determining those minima is the responsibility of the operator, not the state. So when you see a plate, you know the state publishes the procedure, but the operator decides the operating limits. Let me show you how the missed approach point and these phases fit together on a chart. And here's the method for determining the decision altitude or height for precision approaches. Now, one thing I want to make sure you understand clearly: the MAPt itself can be defined in several ways. It could be the point of intersection of the glide path with the applicable DA/H — that's the Decision Altitude or Decision Height. Or it could be a navigational facility, a fix, or a specified distance from the FAF — the Final Approach Fix. Each of these is a valid way to define where the missed approach point is located. Let me show you the track reversal and procedure turn. So to tie it all together: the missed approach has a defined point where you start it, an intermediate phase with limited turns and a 30-metre clearance, and a final phase where full turns are allowed once you've achieved the 50-metre clearance. And all of this is published on the approach plate, which follows ICAO Annex 4 standards but leaves the operating minima to the operator. That's the complete picture of the missed approach and published information.