PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - So, what exactly is a "Cloudbreak Procedure" ?
Old 16th Jul 2012, 01:58
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A Squared
 
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Interesting variety of responses. It would seem that "cloudbreak" means a number of different things in different contexts.

In the context of the charted procedures used at a number of airports Papua New Guinea, none of the offered suggestions have quite hit the mark, although some are close.

What a cloudbreak is not (in this context):

It's not a procedure *not* associated with an airport. All the ones I know of in PNG are very much associated with a specific airport.

It's not what a GPS approach is called in PNG. Some of the cloudbreaks are based on GPS, others are NDB or NDB and DME. And there are GPS approaches which are called GPS approaches (Moro, for example)

Obviously, a cloudbreak is a procedure that is some combination of too far from the airport/too high above the airfield/not aligned with the runway to be considered an approach. But apparently how far/high/unaligned before it's not an approach is shrouded in mystery.

For what it's worth, we don't have this term in the US, they're all called instrument approach procedures, but to be an approach to a specific runway, the final approach course has to be aligned within 30 degrees of the runway and the MDA low enough for a "normal" descent for landing (No more than 400 ft/NM) Otherwise it's a "circling" approach and some maneuvering is required for landing.
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