-----Original Message-----
From: Sam Spade ]
Posted At: Sunday, January 21, 2007 7:32 AM
Posted To: rec.aviation.ifr
Conversation: How wide is an NDB approach course?
Subject: How wide is an NDB approach course?

....
Most of the NDB IAPs flown by airlines was with slaved RMI/ADF
indicators. Those approaches became seldom used by the major carriers
by the early 1960s.

All of my experience has been 91, 135, and 141 so I defer to those with
121 experience for that topic.

NDBs (we still called them ADFs) were still in wide use for Wichita iron
back in the early '70s and that is where my exposure started. We flew
NDB approaches quite frequently in the mid-west and plain states because
ILS was only available at major metropolitan centers and VOR was only
available at a few remote airports (like Gage, Oklahoma). There were
frequently other fields around, but there were no pub'd VOR approaches
for a lot of them so we had to use NDB.

Those approaches work just as well today as they did 35 years ago, but I
will grant you that they take more work and more diligence to execute
properly. NDB approaches are definitely not my first choice unless there
is some young pup in the right seat who's been bustin' my balls about
being an ancient aviator. Then an NDB approach can be a real humbling
experience with a good wind and maybe a few static discharges off in the
distance.

BTW, old Frontier pilots probably still have nightmares about all the
NDBs they had to fly because of all the little farm towns they serviced.