Basically, it's as I initially said. We were at 13,000 and then were cleared
to intercept the arc from the SW. I was still descending while trying to fly
the arc, and then intercepted the final approach course while still in the
descent.

So, it was descending at a pretty rapid rate, turning to intercept the BC,
turbulence, and ice. I do have WAAS GPS as well as traditional DME, which
made some of it easier, but did not couple the autopilot, and hand flew
instead. (The DME fixes on the GPS may not necessarily be the same as the
DME from the navaid.)

I made very sure that I stayed on the final approach course, and did not get
low (which never happened due to the circumstances). Again, it is a non
radar environment, so the tower was asking for DME readouts.

The second WAAS GPS was set for the terrain page, as added information.

It was in a piston twin.

"q" wrote in message ...
You don't really provide enough specifics about exact route, center
handling while still in radar contact, handoff, etc.

Having said that, at a terrain-laden airport like HLN, a piston aircraft
is often up against the limits (shock cooling, icing limitations, etc.)
compared to turbine aircraft.

Viperdoc wrote:

Recently, on a long cross country from Portland, OR to Wisconsin, we
stopped at Helena, MT for a gas and pit stop.

Coming from the West with the winds calm, I chose the loc DME BC approach
to runway 9. Even though it's the capitol (is it capital?) of the state,
there is no radar coverage.

First, I had to descend and intercept the DME arc. Once on the arc, we
were in turbulence and IMC, and started picking up ice (my Baron had KI
certification).

Once on the loc BC, there are several step down fixes, but since we were
given the approach clearance several thousand feet high, I had a hard
time reaching the DME fixes at a low enough altitude.

Of course, without radar, the tower was asking us to report position, and
I had to keep telling him I was unable to reach the desired altitudes due
to the excessive descent rate required.

Finally, before the last fix we broke out into VMC, with the valley below
and the airport in sight, still several thousand feet high. We circled
once, and then landed without difficulty.

It was a great learning experience, but I'm not sure what to have done
differently. I already had the approach flaps out, and contemplated
putting down the gear to help the descent, but hesitated doing this in
icing conditions (what if I needed to pull up the gear again for some
reason during the approach covered in ice?)

I could have chopped the power (was already at 15 inches) and descending
at over 1,000 fpm near Va, but I felt a stabilized approach in ice and in
mountainous terrain was safer than making even more radical pitch and
power changes.

I felt like I was behind the eight ball from the start. Is there a better
way to have handled the approach?