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3 Answers

Glideslope INOP after FAF

Asked by: 3165 views FAA Regulations, General Aviation

Good afternoon, 

Question, 

If ATC cleared a pilot for "ILS approach", The pilot experience glideslope failed after passing the FAF.  May I have to go missed? Or I have the opportunity to transition to Localizer Approach and descent to MDA minimums? 

Let's say I took the time over FAF so I'll be able to identify my MAP. 

 

Thank you (: 

3 Answers



  1. KDS on May 22, 2018

    My understanding it YES. Now we’ll wait while one of the guys who knows more about it than me gives us the reference to the document that says so (or doesn’t).

    However, meanwhile, I’ll tell a little story on myself that was one of those “what if this happens” events.

    I was a student doing instrument training into a military base. We were doing a PAR when WHAMO, a lightning bolt hit the base right about where approach control was. The controller said “RADAR contact lost, continue on the ILS if able” or words to that effect. I had the ILS tuned in and continued on it. Then the ILS failed (no doubt also because of the lightning strike). Since the FAF was an LOM and there was an NDB approach off of it, I told my instructor that I’d continue on the NDB. Then I realized I had failed to punch the clock at the FAF.

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  2. Farhi.N on May 22, 2018

    KDS,
    Thank you for sharing your story! Pretty interesting situation

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  3. KDS on May 22, 2018

    To quote midlifeflyer, “Google is our friend”. Here is a link that may be of interest to you:

    https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/1837/is-it-legal-to-fly-the-localizer-approach-when-cleared-for-the-ils

    Bear in mind that it’s four years old. Since it was written, one of the links in it is dead and the names of the approaches have been changed. Whereas it used to be ILS RWY 31, now it’s ILS or LOR RWY 31.

    I remember a controller correcting me when I asked for a localizer approach. He said there was no such thing and therefore he couldn’t clear me for it. Then he added that i could shoot the ILS to localizer minimums if desired and he could clear me for the ILS approach, but again, he couldn’t clear me for a LOC because there was no chart by that name. I think that little distinction is why the approach names have pretty much all been changed to include the word LOC.

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