> To intercept a LOC so close is not easy with the APR mode, you are to close to give the AP time to get on track (or the AP is to slow). I get nearly the same problem here:
I was on a HDG/APR mode so the A/P will steer the heading until intercept. I have a S-Tec 55X. It looks similar like your overshoot but I think mine was caused that I had just dialed in 240 from 300 so it was turning and then overshooting and then too fast, too close to the runway. Anyway, I learned a lot from this! ;-)
> Funnily, I now have to fly into Biggin next week. A timely thread!
Please share how your approach was! ;-)
[test edit – ignore :) ]
A few thoughts, being similarly familiar with the area and airspace:
- Thames will vector you tightly, especially if busy. Your final approach speed causes sequencing issues with biz jets whose ref Leeds are typically 30+kt faster.
- if you aren’t happy with what the controller is giving you, tell them. Controllers are there to give you what you need. If you need a 6nm final, extra track miles to lose altitude and so on
- If the autopilot is not making the aircraft do what you want, ditch it. I guarantee you can capture the ILS better than most autopilots (including that on heavy metal)
More broadly, on energy management, controllers tend to tell you how many track miles you have. Use that to plan your descent. 3x table works wonders in most things I have flown. If you need more miles, say so.
If you need more drag, use the landing gear (as appropriate), configure early (Vfe allowing) and so on. Be aware what you can do if you need to. That includes knowing how fast you can fly down the ILS if need be when mixing it in a busy traffic environment.
I had a similar experience when operating out of EGHH. Class B surrounded by class G.
This is an International Airport of Entry.
As a non European based pilot, I found the notion that an IFR flight from a controlled airport, to a controlled airport that does not start and finish at take off and landing, like most of the rest of the world manages to provide, is both quirky and dangerous.
Why should I need to know about local VFR rules under these circumstances? There should be a homogenous transition to and from the ground to the airways including the provision for coverage during a go-around. Is a SID or STAR too much to ask for?
I know technically Bournemouth has sufficient radar coverage, it just seems to be controlled by disparate services.
The current patchwork quilt of airspace and radar services is frankly a mess to an outsider.
“What type of service do you request?” “The same one I started with please!”
E
I think, eal, that if you fly to Bournemouth EGHH on a Eurocontrol IFR flight plan (i.e. from somewhere suitably far away, not Shoreham) then London Control should keep you in CAS, hand you over the Bournemouth Radar, and you will be in CAS all the way to the runway.
That is how e.g. the passenger flights from Jersey work. That silly airway from ORTAC, base 3500ft, was put in so the shagged piston twins, with an operating ceiling of 3600ft at MTOW+20% 
can stay in CAS as per the terms of their AOC.
I do like your comment about EGHH being Class B. It’s actually Class D but UK Class D is operated like Class B 
EGKA-EGHH (e.g.) is cowboy country, all bets are off there…
I must admit I was looking for a place to some instrument approach practise, and the usual places in the SouthEast couldn’t give me the slot I wanted. I looked at Biggin Hill and decided against it as it looked too complicated. Shame on me. Maybe this weekend I will give it a go :-)
Normally I find Lydd EGMD to be very accommodating. £20 a pop…
Southampton EGHI used to be free (no kidding) but not any more.
>Normally I find Lydd EGMD to be very accommodating. £20 a pop…
Lydd is nice, I have done approaches there before, but I recall they have some kind of 10NM DME ARC to follow before intercepting the ILS.
Lydd is not that great if you want to practice precision in the last bit of the ILS due to the high-is minimum, but has an interesting hold on an NDB bearing and distance, so gives you a something unusual to do. If you want to test yourself, DON’t look at the plate before the flight.
The Biggin procedure is really obsolete. It was designed that way when it kept you out of the City CTR, hence the funny arc close to the airfield. Then the City CTA down to 1500ft was introduced, and now bits of it are in City’s airspace, which means you cannot use it without Thames Radar, and they vector you.
Biggin only charges for practice-ILS. Which means they generally don’t charge the ILS if you land after a bona-fide IFR flight, either because the weather is too bad for VFR or because you come off airways.
eal,
> Why should I need to know about local VFR rules under these circumstances?
You don’t. You carry on IFR.
> Lydd is nice, I have done approaches there before, but I recall they have some kind of 10NM DME ARC to follow before intercepting the ILS.
If you want a real “WTF???” moment, don’t look at the Lydd approach chart until you are ready to brief it as if it were an unplanned diversion. The missed approach procedure and hold sorts the people who really know how to use the ADF from those who find it hard.
