Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

2 Answers

Navaid failure on an instrument approach before turning final.

Asked by: 5524 views Instrument Rating

Can anyone advise me as to what the procedue would be for a navaid failure on an instrument approach before turning final approach?  Lets say the aerodome has a NDB/DME and a VOR/DME procedure, the VOR fails on the approach.  Obviously you would advise ATC and request to enter the hold for the NDB/DME approach, but how would you fly this, would the aircraft need to turn 180 degrees from the point of the navaid failure?

Ace Any FAA Written Test!
Actual FAA Questions / Free Lifetime Updates
The best explanations in the business
Fast, efficient study.
Pass Your Checkride With Confidence!
FAA Practical Test prep that reflects actual checkrides.
Any checkride: Airplane, Helicopter, Glider, etc.
Written and maintained by actual pilot examiners and master CFIs.
The World's Most Trusted eLogbook
Be Organized, Current, Professional, and Safe.
Highly customizable - for student pilots through pros.
Free Transition Service for users of other eLogs.
Our sincere thanks to pilots such as yourself who support AskACFI while helping themselves by using the awesome PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad, and Android aviation apps of our sponsors.

2 Answers



  1. John D. Collins on May 04, 2012

    I would initiate a climb, if needed, to a safe altitude and report the failure to ATC. I would use any navigation means  available to me, to conduct an alternative approach or navigate to an alternate airport.  Hopefully, I was in a radar environment and would request ATC to provide vectors and assign an altitude. My aircraft is pretty well equipped with an IFR WAAS GPS and a DME, but I don’t have an ADF installed, so although I could navigate to the hold for the NDB-DME approach, or for that matter to the VOR-DME hold, I could not fly either approach without the underlying navaid and on board navigation  equipment operating.

    +1 Votes Thumb up 1 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  2. Matthew Waugh on May 05, 2012

    Agree with John – you have to get to the MSA as soon as possible by any means necessary. If turing 180 degrees seems ike a good idea, then fine, but it’s not required, all bets are off, you got to do what you got to do.
     
    These are the reasons some pilots recommend having all the VFR charts out and reviewed before shooting the instrument approach so you know where the lumps are and can plan accordingly. Seems ike a lot of extra work, but I guess you only die once.

    +2 Votes Thumb up 2 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes


The following terms have been auto-detected the question above and any answers or discussion provided. Click on a term to see its definition from the Dauntless Aviation JargonBuster Glossary.

Answer Question

Our sincere thanks to all who contribute constructively to this forum in answering flight training questions. If you are a flight instructor or represent a flight school / FBO offering flight instruction, you are welcome to include links to your site and related contact information as it pertains to offering local flight instruction in a specific geographic area. Additionally, direct links to FAA and related official government sources of information are welcome. However we thank you for your understanding that links to other sites or text that may be construed as explicit or implicit advertising of other business, sites, or goods/services are not permitted even if such links nominally are relevant to the question asked.