Reading the whiskey compass

There's a good reason why NDB visibility minima are a mile or more.
You need to be able to see the airport when you get somewhere near it.
---JRC---

"Bob Gardner" wrote in message =
news:M0a%b.56799$Xp.269573@attbi_s54...
True story: The Boeing 747 building is east of the approach end of =
runway 16
at Paine Field. The NDB approach is based on a beacon nine miles away. =
On my
ATP checkride, the FAA examiner had me shoot the NDB 16 approach, and =
I did
my very damndest....but when I called "missed approach" and he told me =
to
lift the hood, the Boeing building was to my right...my approach was =
that
far east of the runway. "Good approach," he said.
=20
As an instructor, when a student shot an NDB with an off-field beacon =
and
ended up looking right down the runway, I assumed that he or she had =
cheated
somewhere along the way. Too many variables for an NDB approach to be
perfect.
=20
Bob Gardner