Question No 9
AIP ENR 1.5 para 1.6.6 (d) and Note 1

You are carrying out the Runway 16 NDB approach at Inverell (295318S 1510839E) by night in VH-OZY . You
are still in cloud as you pass through 3400 feet. At 3300 feet you break clear of cloud and assess the visibility as
2.5km. The wind indicator shows that the surface wind is from 340° at 10 knots. You should-

[a] Continue the approach to land straight ahead on runway 16.
Carry out the missed approach procedure.
[c] Continue the approach on a track of 169°M to the circling area and overfly and join a left base
for runway 34.
[d] Continue the approach on a track of 169°M to the circling area and overfly and join a left
down wind for runway 16.




9 [d]

The cloud base is above the circling minimum of 3250 feet. (Inverell
has AWIS so you can get the actual QNH). You can circle at night if
you are above the circling minimum.. You cannot land on runway
16 because you have a 10kt tailwind. You can circle and land on
runway 34..


[d] is Continue the approach on a track of 169°M to the circling area and overfly and join a left
down wind for runway 16


? [c]

Yes should be (d) the explanation was obviously switched I've amended that answer to correct that error

Appreciate the feedback

Hi Stuart, this one is really doing my head in and I'm really struggling with the choices and answers being offered.

My book has answer D which I think was LEFT downwind for landing on RWY 16 (I can check later, as I'm at work now).
Information for VH-OZY has a tailwind landing limit of 10knots, so we 'could' land with this tailwind on 16 if we really needed to, but I'd suspect that is not the best option as we can land on 34.


Errata (16/05/2023) says the answer has been updated but remains d:
The answer is [d] Continue the approach on a track of 169°M to the circling area and overfly and join a left down wind for runway 16

as well as
(28/08/2023) says that the D has been updated to read:
"Continue the approach on a track of 169°M to the circling area and join a right downwind for runway 34." (implying d is still correct answer?)

Now, that is an option also. However, I'd have thought the easiest option from the current location would be to overfly the NDB (which is effectively located midway along the left hand circuit downwind leg of 34), then turn to join Left base on RWY34 for landing. Why should we choose a right hand downwind onto 34 vs a left hand base onto 34?

Unless I"m mistaken, overflying and joining all three options are possible options:
LEFT DOWNWIND 16
RIGHT DOWNWIND 34
LEFT BASE 34

agree, In practice I would fly left base to 34. HOWEVER i have flown similar approaches in the US and one thing I remember is that it is really hard to see runways at night and u may loose track of the runway making such a maneuver, especially if the NDB is close to the runway. In that case I would prefer to do a fly over the airport above traffic pattern, then do a right DW to 34.