Flight procedure explained

A flight procedure or instrumental flight procedure (IFP) is a set of predetermined maneuvers with specified protection from obstacles designed to achieve safe flight operations and an orderly flow of air traffic. Flight procedures linked to an aerodrome are specified as arrival, departure or approach procedure (usually linked with missed approach procedure).

Different types of instrumental flight procedures can be recognized:

• STAR (standard terminal arrival route)
• SID (standard instrument departure)
• IAP (instrument approach procedure) - supports landing operation, usually starts in range of 10 to 20 NM before the runway threshold
• MA (missed approach procedure) - usually linked to IAP procedure and published on the same chart

See also

• Aviation regulations
• Instrument flight rules
• Instrument approach
• Approach plate

References

• D. Anderson, J. Robinson, and J. Towler, The Boeing Company, Seattle, WA; D. Pate, Federal Aviation Administration, Oklahoma City, OK; S. Barnes, L. Boniface, D. Lankford, and G. Legarreta, Federal Aviation Administration, Washington, DC; G. McCartor, Federal Aviation Administration, Oklahoma City, OK; E. Lassooij, International Civil Aviation Organization, Montreal, Canada; E. Bailey, Eurocontrol, Brussels, Belgium; and R. Putters, Civil Aviation Authority Netherlands, Amsterdam, the Netherlands Simulation Modeling in the Development of Flight Procedures and Airport Standards - AIAA-2005-5879 AIAA Modeling and Simulation Technologies Conference and Exhibit, San Francisco, California, Aug. 15–18, 2005 published by American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
• John-Paul B. Clarke; Nhut T. Ho; Liling Ren; John A. Brown; Kevin R. Elmer; Katherine Zou; Christopher Hunting; Daniel L. McGregor; Belur N. Shivashankara; Kwok-On Tong; Anthony W. Warren; Joseph K. Wat Continuous Descent Approach: Design and Flight Test for Louisville International Airport - Journal of Aircraft 2004 0021-8669 vol.41 no.5 (1054-1066)
• Air Traffic and Navigation Services SOC Limited
• What is a flight procedure? – Navdelta.com