What you are describing sounds like an operator approved special procedure and it sounds like you are describing a left downwind to runway 33 which has been a point of contention in this thread. You mentioned entering on a crosswind which is why I'm asking.
This is probably due to some unclear use of language on my part (a futile attempt at brevity) and a tad bit of thread drift. I'd like to try and clarify what I was describing and why.
What I describe is not an "operator approved special procedure" per se. It's just that ASE was declared to be a "special airport" sometime following the 2001 N303GA crash at ASE. "Special" crew qualification and operating limitations were imposed on operations at ASE for air carriers operating under part 135 rules and whose certificates were under the purview of the VNY FSDO. Whether this happened in other districts, I am not aware.
So beginning in 2001, ASE was added to our recurrent sim training list of things to do. Another check box on the form to go along with PRM approaches and whatever other items weren't on the form originally. One takeoff and one landing in visual conditions met the requirement but doing an entire approach including circling maneuver to rwy 15 was much more instructive. We flew the approach to the MAP. Making it straight in to 15 from here would be far more dramatic a final approach gradient than we were looking for. Consequently we then flew to the airport visually, maintaining MDA until overhead the airport. You're now 2,400' above the airport at the end of what amounts to the initial leg of a visual overhead approach. The further to the West of the runway you are, the closer you are to high terrain and the more room you have available to the East for circling. Since the hills may be obscured by cloud or reduced visibility even while reported visibility at the airport remains above published mins and circling West is NA, planning to overfly the runway gives the most terrain protection in all directions and is compatible with the general guidance for completing a circling maneuver. The idea is to remain within the "protected" circling area so getting too far away from the airport (cat C = 1.7 nm) during the circling maneuver is to be avoided.
The valley gets more narrow as you fly to the SSE toward town, so beginning your turn to the downwind overhead the intended landing spot provides the maximum approach design terrain clearance and also puts you in the best position to finish your circling maneuver lined up on final. Yes it's a bit like landing in an irregularly shaped cereal bowl! Landing straight-in on 15 is the least demanding and doing that off the Roaring Fork visual easier yet due to more track miles and you can descend going around the hills the approaches require you to overfly.
Visual right traffic to 33:
In good visibility with a North wind exceeding ten knots at the surface, (as reported by ATC
) making right traffic to 33 is indeed doable in some jets but less so in others. More than the terrain considerations, landing downhill is my biggest concern. It's my judgment from examining AFM perf data that 2% down gradient generally requires around 20 kts or so of headwind to "break even" on runway distance required. In other words, landing on 33 with 11 kts of HW may require more runway than landing on 15 with 10 kts of TW. Gets one's attention too!
But there's actually enough room to fly right traffic to 33 if you keep the downwind at 9,500' and do your descending on base & final. Keep the downwind leg from being excessively long, (remember the valley gets narrow to the south and people complain if you overfly town) but allow enough room to have some kind of wings level final. Some operators may require that part 135 flight parameters and stabilized approach criteria be maintained on part 91 empty flights while others may not. If not, how comfortable do you and the other pilot feel about it? Yeah, another judgment call...
Anyway I hope that clarifies and expands upon my earlier comments. I also hope nobady here thinks I'd deign to to tell them how to fly. There's allot to consider when operating all flights and maybe a little more so when proposing to operate at ASE.
Fly safely and within the spirit of the rules so you can enjoy the fruits of your labor. Sometimes telling nervious pax that this is my attitude towards professional flying actually makes them feel better. In any case, it makes
me feel better...
westhawk