How to file for practice appch at a military base?

I'm planning my 250 nm XC for my instrument rating and would like to do a
PAR approach at Pt. Mugu naval airfield (NTD) in CA on my way back from San
Luis Obispo. How would I file that? I will be coming down V25, should I
expect the IAF to be VTU? Is there any way to indicate in the flight plan
that I would like a practice approach there on my way back to Hawthorne?
Perhaps "PRAC APPCH NTD" in the remarks section?

"Yossarian" wrote in message
. 97.142

I'm planning my 250 nm XC for my instrument rating and would like to
do a PAR approach at Pt. Mugu naval airfield (NTD) in CA on my way
back from San Luis Obispo. How would I file that? I will be coming
down V25, should I expect the IAF to be VTU? Is there any way to
indicate in the flight plan that I would like a practice approach
there on my way back to Hawthorne? Perhaps "PRAC APPCH NTD" in the
remarks section?

I'd think (especially post-9/11) that you'd want to call Pt. Mugu prior to
even planning the approach. If you get their permission, then I'd recommend
filing NTD as a waypoint on your route with "PLA NTD" in the remarks section
(with "PLA" being understood to be "practice low approaches").

--
John T
http://tknowlogy.com/TknoFlyer
http://www.pocketgear.com/products_s...veloperid=4415
____________________

Yossarian wrote:
I'm planning my 250 nm XC for my instrument rating and would like to do a
PAR approach at Pt. Mugu naval airfield (NTD) in CA on my way back from San
Luis Obispo. How would I file that? I will be coming down V25, should I
expect the IAF to be VTU? Is there any way to indicate in the flight plan
that I would like a practice approach there on my way back to Hawthorne?
Perhaps "PRAC APPCH NTD" in the remarks section?

You don't need anything in the flight plan. If the approach is approved, it will
be just negotiated on the fly with whatever controller you're talking to.

N1234: "we'd like to get a practice PAR approach at Point Mugu"

If you want, you can put "PLA NTD" in the remarks section. PLA is "practice low
approach". This won't result in any ATC action, though, unless you specifically
request it.

Yossarian wrote in
. 97.142:

I'm planning my 250 nm XC for my instrument rating and would like to
do a PAR approach at Pt. Mugu naval airfield (NTD) in CA on my way
back from San Luis Obispo. How would I file that? I will be coming
down V25, should I expect the IAF to be VTU? Is there any way to
indicate in the flight plan that I would like a practice approach
there on my way back to Hawthorne? Perhaps "PRAC APPCH NTD" in the
remarks section?

As someone else indicated, calling ahead of time is a good idea, not only
for post-9/11 consideration, but also to make sure that they have the
staffing necessary for the PAR approach. I do ASR approaches into civilian
airports, and I always call ahead on the phone to make sure they will be
able to accomodate the request.

Don't worry about 9/11. The military knows that terrorists don't request
practice approaches.

You are supposed to have at least a written description of the approach.

Some military bases are more accomodating than others; it never hurts to
ask. It does not help to put anything in the remarks. If the base does PAR
approaches, they will have the staffing for it whether you call ahead or
not. The only issues are the local base policy (base commanders tend to be
more worried about liability than terrorism) and workload.

Yossarian wrote in message .97.142...
I'm planning my 250 nm XC for my instrument rating and would like to do a
PAR approach at Pt. Mugu naval airfield (NTD) in CA on my way back from San
Luis Obispo. How would I file that? I will be coming down V25, should I
expect the IAF to be VTU? Is there any way to indicate in the flight plan
that I would like a practice approach there on my way back to Hawthorne?

Whenever you are going to a semi-busy airport, don't worry about
filing all the way to the IAF, just to the general area. You'll always
get vectors anyway.


Perhaps "PRAC APPCH NTD" in the remarks section?

You can put anything you want in the remarks and ATC will see it
(unlike a VFR flight plan).

On 7 Jul 2004 09:53:20 -0700, (Robert M. Gary)
wrote:

Whenever you are going to a semi-busy airport, don't worry about
filing all the way to the IAF, just to the general area. You'll always
get vectors anyway.


What do you when you get to the "general area" while experiencing a
comm failure?

Planning to the IAF gives you procedures to follow if this were to
happen and all parties involved will know what to expect.

z

You are going to get a clearance to the airport, no matter what you file.
Filing to an IAF is not necessary, IMHO. Comm failure is an emergency
situation, opening the door to doing whatever you want to do under the PIC
privilege.

Bob Gardner

"zatatime" wrote in message
...
On 7 Jul 2004 09:53:20 -0700, (Robert M. Gary)
wrote:

Whenever you are going to a semi-busy airport, don't worry about
filing all the way to the IAF, just to the general area. You'll always
get vectors anyway.


What do you when you get to the "general area" while experiencing a
comm failure?

Planning to the IAF gives you procedures to follow if this were to
happen and all parties involved will know what to expect.

z

Why would comm failure be an emergency? If you follow the FARs both you
and ATC know what you should be doing all the way to your planned
destination. There should be no safety of flight issue so I think you
would have some explaining to do if you "diverted" to a military
airfield.

BTW I played phone tag today with some air operations officer, I'll try
him again tomorrow. I was surprised he even called me back, his
secretary wasn't too pleasant. "Well if there's nothing in it for us we
aren't gonna let you do a practice approach, but we'll see what the air
ops officer says."


"Bob Gardner" wrote in
:

You are going to get a clearance to the airport, no matter what you
file. Filing to an IAF is not necessary, IMHO. Comm failure is an
emergency situation, opening the door to doing whatever you want to do
under the PIC privilege.

Bob Gardner

"zatatime" wrote in message
...
On 7 Jul 2004 09:53:20 -0700, (Robert M. Gary)
wrote:

Whenever you are going to a semi-busy airport, don't worry about
filing all the way to the IAF, just to the general area. You'll
always get vectors anyway.


What do you when you get to the "general area" while experiencing a
comm failure?

Planning to the IAF gives you procedures to follow if this were to
happen and all parties involved will know what to expect.

z

Responding to a couple of different postings with a single reply, sorry...

Yossarian wrote:
Why would comm failure be an emergency? If you follow the FARs both you
and ATC know what you should be doing all the way to your planned
destination. There should be no safety of flight issue so I think you

You need to know what the FARs say so you can parrot it back for your oral exam.
However, there's a huge consensus that the best thing to do when you lose comm
and still have navigation capability is: get on the ground as quickly as
possible using any available nearby approach (assuming IMC, of course). I agree
with this consensus. You're free to decide for yourself.

would have some explaining to do if you "diverted" to a military
airfield.

I didn't hear anyone advocating diverting to a military airfield due to lost comm.


BTW I played phone tag today with some air operations officer, I'll try
him again tomorrow. I was surprised he even called me back, his
secretary wasn't too pleasant. "Well if there's nothing in it for us we
aren't gonna let you do a practice approach, but we'll see what the air
ops officer says."


"Bob Gardner" wrote in
:


You are going to get a clearance to the airport, no matter what you
file. Filing to an IAF is not necessary, IMHO. Comm failure is an
emergency situation, opening the door to doing whatever you want to do
under the PIC privilege.

Bob Gardner

"zatatime" wrote in message
. ..

On 7 Jul 2004 09:53:20 -0700, (Robert M. Gary)
wrote:


Whenever you are going to a semi-busy airport, don't worry about
filing all the way to the IAF, just to the general area. You'll
always get vectors anyway.


What do you when you get to the "general area" while experiencing a
comm failure?

Planning to the IAF gives you procedures to follow if this were to
happen and all parties involved will know what to expect.

Planning is fine, but in general -filing- doesn't do much for you. You fly the
route you are cleared for, not the one you filed. In general, clearances are to
the airport, at least in my part of the USA. You might as well just file to the
airport to begin with.