Distracting visual cues

On a recent flight, I made a mistake - fortunately, it didn't cause any damage, only a missed approach. I remembered the words of my designated pilot examiner who said that he made many more mistakes than I did. That was his way of saying that he was more experienced than me. Mistakes, and the learning that they provide, help us to build experience (see "Making Lemonade,").

Instrument approaches have the advantage that, at the end of a properly flown approach, the runway comes into view - without much of a search. Although nonprecision approaches (instrument approaches that provide the pilot with lateral guidance only, without the vertical guidance of a precision approach such as the instrument landing system approach) may involve a little searching, it generally is less than what's needed for a VFR approach. The key here is a properly flown approach, which means being meticulous, precisely following the VOR radials, without any distractions - visual or otherwise.

To maintain proficiency one summer, I wanted to shoot an approach into Flying W Airport in Lumberton, New Jersey. Flying W has no instrument landing system approach, although it does have a VOR approach. I flew to the Robbinsville VOR as a starting point for the approach. I spoke to McGuire Approach, asking for flight following as I was shooting the VOR-A approach into Flying W. I followed the 232-degree radial on course to Flying W, while descending. As I was supposedly getting closer to Flying W, McGuire terminated flight following because I was descending below the radar coverage level. This was at the PONDE intersection, which is about 5.4 nm from the destination airport.

That is when the visual clues distracted me. I could see an airport in the distance, which I thought was Flying W. From that point onward, I disregarded the radials since I had the airport in sight. As I got closer and was about to enter the traffic pattern, I realized that this airport was not my intended destination. I had been to Flying W before, and I knew what its surroundings looked like. And Flying W's runway is 1/19; this airport's runway was 8/26.

I confirmed that I was past the missed approach point for Flying W, which meant that Flying W had to be behind me. I somehow missed it. Now I needed to correct my mistake. Flying the missed approach, going back to Robbinsville VOR, and making another approach was the only way to redeem my lost confidence.

I turned toward Coyle VOR, which was part of the missed approach procedure. From there, I flew towards Robbinsville. This time, I flew the nonprecision approach precisely, without any distractions. This time, I saw two airports. The one straight ahead of me was Flying W. The other was slightly to my right and little to the southwest of Flying W. I landed at Flying W without any further misses. After a brief stop, I took off from Flying W and headed back home toward Princeton, New Jersey.

I realized later that the airport that misled me was South Jersey Regional Airport in Mount Holly. It is very close to Flying W, probably a few miles away. Earlier, I heard stories about airline pilots landing at wrong airports. I used to wonder why there is so much emphasis on missed approaches in instrument flying. It was the missed approach procedure that helped me to get back on track. Now I realize why it is easy to make a mistake, and that I can't lose sight of the ball.

Checking the proper functioning of VOR receivers on the ground, tuning the VOR receiver to the proper frequency and radial, and flying precisely by keeping the needle centered all the time are key to flying a nonprecision approach. The VOR is not as sensitive as an ILS, which makes it very important to fly precisely with the needle centered. Otherwise, it can lead erroneously to another airport in the vicinity.