Against the backdrop of the May 15 fatal Learjet 35 accident there, Teterboro Airport (TEB) stakeholders used a portion of a regularly scheduled users’ group meeting in July to discuss circling approaches, specifically best practices and the challenges that both pilots and ATC face. The consensus: the most promise for mitigating risk lies in ensuring that pilots have a better understanding of what they are expected to do and what they’re allowed to do.

The July 19 meeting, the first since the Learjet crashed during a circling approach to TEB’s Runway 1, attracted 40 operators, airport officials, corporate representatives and New York-area controllers. The discussion focused on the Runway 1 approach, which is flown by setting up for an ILS approach to Runway 6, turning right after the TORBY intersection, and circling around for a visual approach to Runway 1. 

The approach, which must be flown at 1,300 feet or below and necessitates a late line-up on Runway 1 to accommodate Newark International Airport (EWR) traffic to the south, is used only in VFR conditions when wind or other issues make Runway 6 unavailable, controllers said. The maneuver to Runway 1 can lead aircraft over the 82,000-seat outdoor stadium and 19,000-seat indoor arena of the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, N.J., about a mile south of TEB. There is also a cluster of 675-foot-tall radio towers next to the sports complex.

Controllers from TEB tower and New York Tracon highlighted a few misconceptions about the approach. They underscored that a TFR in force during sporting events that covers airspace in a 3-nm radius from the stadium up to 3,000 feet agl does not apply to TEB traffic in contact with ATC. 

“If you feel like you must, you can go over the stadium” on approach, one veteran TEB controller said, noting that a tighter turn to stay inside the stadium can be a risky maneuver. “It’s the same for departure. [Law enforcement] and stadium security call us up, and we let them know these things will happen.”

'Circle to 1'

Controllers also emphasized that the ILS 6, Circle to 1 approach is not a circling approach by regulatory standards, which include published altitude minimums—760 feet for Category A, B and C aircraft and 820 feet for Category D—that must be flown. The governing altitude restriction that applies to the TEB approach is the 1,500-foot maximum related to EWR traffic.

“We never use” the circling minimums criteria on the Runway 1 approach, an approach controller said. “It’s meaningless to us. We only use VFR as far as circling. We understand what the pilot has to go through, so a 1,500-foot [ceiling] and visibility of three miles is when we start considering” the ILS 6, Circle to 1 procedure.

Once the turn is initiated, “You’re visual from that point on, eyes out the window, turning the airplane to the airport as soon as you can.”

The “circle to 1” phrase, in use for years, “is a succinct way of communicating you’re not landing on Runway 6,” the controller explained. “There hasn’t been another way to easily describe what we're asking you to do. It's a visual approach to Runway 1. If pilots are interpreting it as a requirement to circle at minimums, then that’s wrong.”

ATC representatives said that changing the phraseology—which most pilots in the room supported—is "something we can discuss from an [FAA] Air Traffic perspective.” Among the suggested wording: “ILS 6, expect Runway 1” or "ILS 6, land Runway 1."

Pilots shared various techniques for using avionics to assist on the approach, such as modifying the FMS to enter raw data for the Runway 1 approach. But variations in company standard operating procedures—one pilot said modifying a database-generated ILS approach en route was not permitted, for example—led the group to conclude that there is no single solution.

A FlightSafety instructor recommended an old-school approach: "The airplane you fly has a bearing pointer,” he said. "If you put that bearing pointer on the Teterboro VOR or the airport reference pointer for Teterboro, then turn right and turn left and join the 010 to that reference point on the pointer and look out the window, you will see Runway 1.”

The consensus takeaways: pilots flying to TEB should brief early and thoroughly, establishing clear courses of action for each pilot and setting up any avionics assistance well in advance to avoid having to put heads down at a critical time. When given the ILS 6, circle to 1 approach, the initial turn should start as soon as permissible—controllers emphasized this point as “after” TORBY and not “at” TORBY—and go just outside the sports complex and towers to provide the greatest opportunity to stabilize the aircraft on final. Waiting too long after TORBY to start the maneuver to Runway 1 risks too steep a turn, and should—like any unstable approach—result in a go-around.