Linden, new jersey’s GPS-A

This was often because of the placement of whatever ground-based navaid was used to design the approach, be it a VOR or an NDB or even a localizer. With the advent of GPS, circling approaches are much less common and usually much less necessary. However, it is still possible that a circling approach is the only solution based on local terrain, obstacles, airspace issues, and other factors.

Approaches that are designed from the outset as a circling approach are given a letter designation, such as the VOR-A or NDB-A. The FAA TERPS folks require that the final approach course be less than 30 degrees to be a straight-in. Even then, if you’re flying a fast airplane or into a short runway, you may want to think twice about assuming that a straight-in will be “easy peasy.”

A great example is Linden, New Jersey (LDJ), which has only one approach, the GPS-A. There is only one initial approach fix (IAF), which is at WARRD intersection, 16.3 miles from the missed approach point (MAP) of BAUTZ, which itself is 2.1 miles from the end of the runway. There is no altitude depicted for WARRD, but the minimum safe altitude (MSA) is 2,900 feet, which is predicated on the Freedom Tower in downtown Manhattan. The inbound course is 039 degrees, which is 50 degrees off the centerline of the runway. That sets you up to turn final at 620 feet, assuming you can see the runway. The minimum visibility is two and a half miles, which is just over that 2.1 mile distance listed above. You won’t have much reaction time to commit to either a landing or a missed approach.

This approach will require some study of the notams up front, because when the visibility is at the minimum allowed, the runway may be difficult to see. Are the lights operating? Is there anything going on in that gap to the runway? Is the threshold displaced for any reason? It should also be noted that the approach is not authorized at night, which is an easy note to miss.

Linden is only four miles south of Newark (EWR), which is a major hub airport and one of the busiest in the country. If you’re landing at LDJ, you will have traffic from EWR passing just above you on south departures (initial level-off altitude: 2,500 feet msl), or just above you and descending on northbound arrivals. The missed approach takes this into account with an immediate climbing left turn to 2,000 feet away from the EWR corridor. This is no place for sloppy altitude control.

This approach is shoe-horned into the surrounding airspace. My guess is there isn’t enough obstacle clearance to build a more straight-in approach to Runway 9, and there is no way to ensure terrain and traffic avoidance coming into Runway 27. This airport should be treated as a high-risk operation, and as such, one should always plan to have an alternate somewhere to the west, be it Solberg (nontowered, 21 miles away) or Morristown (towered, 13 miles away, and has an ILS).

If you find yourself relying on a circling approach as your only approach option, it might be best to make your alternate airport your primary one. In fact, that decision should be “easy peasy.”