Contact Approaches

[peerlesscowboy]

The reported ceiling isn't the same as the lowest cloud layer. Once can be in and out of the bases of a scattered deck but still be more than 500 below the reported ceiling. In that case, the pilot may have ground contact but not be able to see the airport. Thus, the controller is playing by the book for vectors for the visual but the pilot can't call "field in sight" to receive the clearance for the visual. That's a case where a contact approach may make good sense. However, with 1700 broken reported, the controller should not have offered vectors for the visual. OTOH, I don't know that there is any prohibition on the controller providing such vectors if the pilot initiates the request.

1700 scattered, yeah that might'a been the case. It was a few years ago and at 66 y/o I'll claim "senior moment" on that. Perhaps it was broke up enuf' at the airport to be less than 50% cloud cover while 6 miles northeast it wasn't broke up that much? I dunno' At any rate both approach and I expected a visual but as I didn't have the airport at MVA 6 miles out it seemed prudent to revise the plan (either the ILS or a contact approach) rather than just keep motoring along this way. Requesting the contact approach with good ground contact and dropping down a hundred feet seemed like a better plan here than vectors way out to the west for the ILS with 1700' whatever. I suppose the controller thought that way too as "do you have ground contact out there" one might take as a hint? Like hey buddy, if you say the magic word I can let you come driving right in

 

[EdFred]

1700 scattered, yeah that might'a been the case. It was a few years ago and at 66 y/o I'll claim "senior moment" on that. Perhaps it was broke up enuf' at the airport to be less than 50% cloud cover while 6 miles northeast it wasn't broke up that much? I dunno' At any rate both approach and I expected a visual but as I didn't have the airport at MVA 6 miles out it seemed prudent to revise the plan (either the ILS or a contact approach) rather than just keep motoring along this way. Requesting the contact approach with good ground contact and dropping down a hundred feet seemed like a better plan here than vectors way out to the west for the ILS with 1700' whatever. I suppose the controller thought that way too as "do you have ground contact out there" one might take as a hint? Like hey buddy, if you say the magic word I can let you come driving right in

I've heard a controller ask if there was anything special a pilot wanted while inside controlled airspace. The pilot didn't pick up on the hint.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

I would never do a contact approach myself. Just seems needlessly risky to save a few minutes when you can just do the approach. But I can imagine situations where saving a few minutes could be useful. (Extremely full bladder or an impending bad case of the squirts? )

As Ed says, a contact approach is not necessarily dangerous at all... And as Spike says, it's another arrow in the quiver.

Here's an example I experienced: I was heading into an airport where approach/departure services are provided by Minneapolis Center, and where radar coverage isn't particularly close to the ground - IE, you ain't getting vectors to final. IAF was way on the other side of the airport. It was a sunny day with a layer of scattered clouds a couple thousand feet off the deck, well above the MEF's for the area. Center knew I probably didn't want to fly 20 miles past the field to shoot an approach with such nice weather, and asked me to call the field, but as I was in the scattered layer and thus the horizontal vis wasn't great, I couldn't see the field (not to mention, I was still probably 15 miles out).

But, I had great vis where the clouds weren't, plenty of ground contact. Perfect situation for a contact approach: Make a slight turn to the right to follow a big crack in the clouds and descend to where there was good vis in all directions, and follow the highway to the field. Piece o' cake.