"Russ MacDonald" wrote in message
news:tJV6f.11984$gF4.4699@trnddc07...

One of my students asked me a question the other day that I have been
unable to answer.

Many instrument approaches are labeled with a letter following the primary
name and the letter indicates that the final approach course is not lined
up (beyond 30 degrees) with any runway, and that a circling approach is
required. For example: VOR-A.


It's not just the alignment of the FAC, if the approach gradient is too
steep or the runway is indistinct there will be no straight-in minima.



That said, what is the difference between VOR-A, VOR-B, VOR-C, etc? Does
the letter have any additional significance? Why, at some airports is
there a VOR-B or VOR-C but no VOR-A? Is it because there used to be a
VOR-A and it was decommissioned?


The alphabetical suffix for circling procedures is not duplicated at
airports with identical city names within the same state.