Circling approach and the application of Van Ferit Melen Airport

When approaching the destination airport, aircraft flying under instrument flight rules (IFR) choose the most convenient instrument approach from the published instrument approach procedure (IAP) charts issued for that airport depending on the runway in use. In some cases, there may be no instrument approach procedure available for intended landing runway because of terrain or other constraints cause the final approach track alignment to fall outside the criteria for a straight-in approach and/or sometimes it may be necessary to change the active runway when approaching the opposite runway, especially during tailwind conditions or operational reasons. In the cases mentioned, circling approaches are used frequently. Depending on the geographical structure of the airport and runway in use, circling approaches to be applied in many types of maneuvers, which sometimes may cause confusion among the pilots about which pattern will be applied on different runways. Visual prescribed track (VPT) can be implemented for circling approaches which enables to pilots predicting the maneuver and have a great benefit for air traffic controllers to monitor location of aircraft during circling approach. In addition to this, using visual prescribed track during circling approaches will contribute significantly to flight safety by enhancing the situational awareness of pilots and the air traffic controllers. In this study, visual prescribed track suggestions have been developed for Van Ferit Melen Airport runway 21, which is located in the mountainous terrain and have a high elevation, and these recommendations are verified in real-time B- 737 flight simulator. The results of the study will be a reference to similar airports.