Circling to Land

[Dream2Jet]

Hi for an IR approach when and why would you circle to land, thanks.

[CAT3C AUTOLAND]

Hi there.

Good question.

Lets say you were going to an airport with one runway which only had an ILS approach on one end of the runway. And lets also say that the runway orientation was 09 - 27 and the ILS was on RW 27. If you got there and the wind, for example was 090/20 and the tailwind limit for your aircraft was 10 kts you would not be able to land on RW 27, therefore, you would fly an instrument approach on to RW 27 to your circling minima, then circle to land on RW 09 so that you landed with a head wind.

I hope that makes sense.

[Capt Scribble]

You do not have to be VMC to circle, just visual with the landing area. A bonus when cloudbase is too low for a visual circuit.

[Dream2Jet]

Thanks great explanation CAT3C AUTOLAND, Capt Scribble if you were circling you are saying you can do it in IMC as long as you just see the RWY?

[Piltdown Man]

Good question - In order to circle, you not only have to be able to see the runway but your weather has to be at or above circling minima. Typical visibility will be 2,400 metres and cloudabase must be at or above circling height (altitude) which varies from airport to airport. At Oslo it is 1,300', at Amsterdam and Inverness 880'. And circling may not be permitted at every airport, some due to terrain and at others "just because".

[lasseb]

The specific minima for circling will vary a lot depending on the specific airport. It can be as low as 1.500 meters / 400 feet (for CAT A airplanes)
2.400 meters as mentioned above is mostly for CAT C airplanes

[thunderbird7]

Sondestrom BGSF - there's a good reason to circle. Or take a 20kt tailwind ;)

[FACSOFF]

There is a very informative 'circle to land video' on the new A320 training website
www.v-prep.com.