Originally Posted by 2Donkeys
I think you are too quick to dismiss the value of such a cloud-break procedure, and too quick to assume the reaction that such a procedure is likely to receive from the CAA/DAP
No I haven't flown the Vagar procedure and I'm interested to hear it's regularly used by commercial flights. Clearly the Oban situation is not a mirror image but it's interesting to note that the Vagar procedure involves aircraft flying VFR from the MAPt to final, with, by the looks of the terrain, the airfield invisible until you're on short base or final. I'm not aware of any precedent for UK CAA approval of that sort of procedure. Circling approaches yes, but not cloudbreak to VFR with the inbound track not even remotely aligned with the aerodrome never mind any runway.
I take your point re an Oban cloudbreak procedure pointed at the airfield (i.e. an aerodrome approach) with, say, an MDH of 1300ft being better than nothing. But a commercial operator will need some guarantee that a very high proportion of schedules will get in. I don't believe an MDH that high will do the job, particularly when it ends with a circling approach which by my reckoning could only be made to runway 01. We're not just dealing here with whether they can design a procedure to ICAO/DAP criteria. We're also dealing with CAA Flight Ops approval for an AOC holder.
NS