A FLIGHT INTO SKRG DEVIATED FROM THE CHARTED APPROACH PROCEDURE; CROSSING RNG AT 10000 FT VICE 12000 FT.

2007-08 · NASA ASRS report 749847

Date: 2007-08 · Aircraft: Commercial Fixed Wing · Phase: approach

Anomalies: deviation-discrepancy-procedural-clearance|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy

Synopsis

A FLIGHT INTO SKRG DEVIATED FROM THE CHARTED APPROACH PROCEDURE; CROSSING RNG AT 10000 FT VICE 12000 FT.

Narrative

DEPARTED SKCL (CALI; COLUMBIA). WE WERE ROUTED PALMA3 DEP UJC W3 TO SKRG (MEDELLIN COLUMBIA). THE FELIX3 ARR FIT THIS ROUTING BEST AND WE KEPT THE PLATE AVAILABLE. SKRG ARR (121.1) CLRED US DIRECT THE RNG (RIO NEGRO) VOR AND TO CROSS AT 10000 FT. HE THEN ALSO CLRED US FOR THE ILS APCH. DURING DSCNT IT OCCURRED TO ME THAT HIGH TERRAIN WOULD POSSIBLY EXIST IN BETWEEN OUR PRESENT POS AND RNG. OUR COURSE WAS APPROX THAT OF THE FELIX3 ARR (THIS WAS THE MOST RESTRICTIVE ARR). I UTILIZED THAT ARR TO KEEP CLR OF TERRAIN AS A DIRECT UNIMPEDED DSCNT WOULD HAVE US POSSIBLY FLYING INTO TERRAIN. WE ARRIVED AT RNG AT 10000 FT MOSTLY IN VMC CONDITIONS. WE PERFORMED THE CHARTED PROC ON THE ILS-Y RWY 36 APCH PLATE. DURING OUR TURN WE NOTED THAT TERRAIN WAS A LITTLE CLOSER THAN WOULD BE EXPECTED. QUICKLY REVIEWING THE PLATE WE FOUND THAT WE SHOULD HAVE BEEN AT 12000 FT OUTBOUND ON THE PROC TURN. WE CLBED BACK UP TO 12000 FT AND CONTINUED WITH THE APCH AND LANDED WITHOUT INCIDENT. UPON LNDG WE WERE CHASTISED BY TWR THAT WE DID NOT COMPLETE THE APCH PROC PROPERLY -- AND THEY REFERRED US TO THE MATROLA ARR. THIS ARR IS CLOSE AND SIMILAR TO THE FELIX3 WITH THE FELIX3 BEING MORE RESTRICTIVE. IN BOTH THESE CASES THE APCH ENDS AT 10000 FT. BOTH OF THESE ARRS COME IN FROM THE S FOR RWY 36. THE PROB; POINT OF CONFUSION AND DILEMMA IS THAT A DARK LINED OVAL PROC TURN IS SHOWN ON THE APCH PLATE. THERE IS NO INDICATION THAT THIS PROC TURN WOULD NOT BE USED WITH A NBOUND STRAIGHT IN APCH FOR RWY 36. THERE WAS AN UNRESOLVED CONVERSATION WITH TWR PERSONNEL REGARDING THIS ENTIRE ISSUE. I INFORMED THEM THAT WE HAD BEEN CLRED TO CROSS RNG VOR AT 10000 FT. IT WAS UNCLR IF THIS MEANT WHEN PROC TURN INBOUND OR WHEN INITIALLY REACHING RNG VOR. FACTORING IN THAT THE 2 APPLICABLE ARR END AT RNG VOR AT 10000 FT THIS WOULD IMPLY THAT NO PROC TURN IS REQUIRED FOR A STRAIGHT-IN APCH FOR RWY. THIS IS A VERY DUBIOUS SITUATION WITH VERY DANGEROUS CONSEQUENCES. THE ILS-Y RWY 36 COMMERCIAL APCH PLATE SHOULD BE MODIFIED TO SHOW 'NO PT' FOR STRAIGHT IN NBOUND APCHS. THIS SHOULD ALLEVIATE ANY DOUBT AS TO HOW THE APCH SHOULD BE FLOWN. BEING THAT WE WERE CLRED DIRECT TO RNG VOR THIS REMOVES US FROM THE PROTECTION THAT EITHER OF THE ARRS WOULD HAVE AFFORDED US IN SPITE THAT THE DIRECT FROM PRESENT POS WAS VERY CLOSE TO THE ARR. WE UTILIZED EXTREME CAUTION AT ALL TIMES. UNTIL FURTHER CLARIFICATION BECOMES AVAILABLE SUBSEQUENT APCHS WILL BE PERFORMED XING RNG VOR INITIALLY AT 12000 FT AND FLYING THE PROC TURN. SOME OF THE FACTORS INVOLVED IN THIS INCIDENT ARE THAT WE WERE FATIGUED AFTER MAKING AN INITIAL ARR AND MISSED APCH AT SKRG. WE DIVERTED TO SKCL AND HAD TO WAIT A PROTRACTED AMOUNT OF TIME FOR THE WX TO LIFT AND TO ADDRESS A MYRIAD OF LOGISTICAL ISSUES. WE DO NOT HAVE A FORMAL TRAINING PROGRAM FOR OUR COMPANY'S OPS INTO SOUTH AMERICA. THIS WAS MY FIRST TIME OPERATING IN COLUMBIA. THERE ARE ALSO THE EVER PRESENT COM DIFFICULTIES. WE SHOULD HAVE REFUSED THE DIRECT TO RNG CLRNC AND INSISTED ON STAYING ON THE ARR THOUGH WE STILL WOULD HAVE HAD TO DEAL WITH THE QUANDARY OF THE PROC TURN. IT WOULD BE HELPFUL IF THERE WAS SOME GUIDE AVAILABLE THAT WOULD HELP IN DECIPHERING THE APCH PLATE PROCS/NOMENCLATURE AND DIFFERENCES FROM UNITED STATES DOMESTIC CHARTING PROCS FOR OPS IN/OUT OF SOUTH AMERICA AND OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD FOR THAT MATTER. I WILL BE CONSULTING THE CHART COMPANY IN AN EFFORT TO FIND MORE INFO.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.

Loading the flight search…

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.

Where does the route data come from?

Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.