I have put up a Topo image on my website which shows the terrain. The red
arrow is the VOR/DME approach path pointing away from the VOR (which is at
top of Mt Orizaba). The altitudes/distances are close to what I see on the
approach plate (see myairplane.com KAVX VOR/DME). It makes sense to turn
right to the north-west on circling (and the approach prohibits circling to
the south-east). Continuing on without climbing on the missed approach will
send you into the VOR. One has about 2.1 miles to make the climb to 3200ft
(from the airport) and about 3.2 miles from the MAP. One presumes here that
the pilot did not attempt to climb. It is unfortunate here that the the
final step down is at the same elevation as the top of the mountain give or
take 100ft.

http://snarayan.home.comcast.net/avi...x_vor_dme1.jpg


"Maule Driver" wrote in message
r.com...
That is a tricky approach. VOR behind and above the airport.

For those of you familiar with it, would I be right in guessing that
familiarity with VFR flight there might not make the need to climb as
obvious as it is when IMC?

"R. Hubbell" wrote in message
newsMLKb.102181$pY.83466@fed1read04...

I hadn't heard anything about this and was surprised when someone
asked if I had.

My condolences to the families and friends, a tragic accident.

http://ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20031231X02110


Seems like with 5 souls that they were probably heading out for a
buffalo burger and a visit to Avalon.

I wonder about having pax when shooting approaches. Seems like a pretty
big
distraction while learning. Do the FARs prohibit pax while IFR
training?


R. Hubbell