Landing from a Circling Approach

• Keep the airport environment in sight and remain within the circling approach radius applicable to your approach category, to a position from which a stabilized descent to landing can be made (AA.VI.H.S1)
• Align with the runway without excessive maneuvering and without exceeding normal operating limits — bank angle not to exceed 30° (S4)
• Airspeed ±5 knots; if applicable, altitude +100/−0 feet and desired heading/track ±5° (S5)
• Configured for landing (S6), runway and adjoining area scanned for traffic and obstructions (S7)
• Touchdown at the aiming point markings −250/+500 feet, or 750 to 1,500 feet from the threshold where there are no aiming point markings (S8)
• Positive control through the stop, using drag and braking devices as appropriate (S9), with CRM/SRM (S10) and runway incursion avoidance (S11)

The 30° bank cap (AA.VI.H.S4) exists because the final turn to the runway is where circling accidents happen — it forbids the classic salvage of overshooting final from a tight circle and steepening the bank at low altitude and approach speed, precisely the ACS's low-altitude maneuvering risk: stall, spin, or CFIT (R5). If runway alignment needs more than 30° of bank or "excessive maneuvering," the maneuver has already failed; the answer is the missed approach (R8), flown per Task VI.G's procedure — climbing turn toward the landing runway, then the missed approach course (IFH ch. 10).

Same window: aiming point −250/+500 feet, or 750–1,500 feet from the threshold (AA.VI.H.S8, matching AA.VI.F.S4). It's harder because you arrive at it from a pattern, not a glidepath: no vertical guidance from the circling altitude down, a rollout onto final that may be short, and energy set by your own pattern geometry rather than a coupled descent. That's why S1's phrase matters — maneuver to a position from which a stabilized descent to landing can be made. The descent from the circling altitude is planned at the briefing, not discovered on final. Approach lighting systems and runway/taxiway signs, markings, and lighting (K2) are the same set covered under Task VI.F — here the aiming point markings are your touchdown reference from a visual pattern instead of a glidepath.

The airplane is configured for landing — and at ATP scale that means configured early, in the pattern, not during the final turn. Late configuration changes at circling altitude are destabilizing in exactly the way the stabilized-approach concept prohibits: for turbojets, landing (or circling) configuration, engines spooled, on speed and path, descent rate under 1,000 fpm before descending below the minimum stabilized approach height (IPH ch. 4). The landing checklist is completed per the crew coordination skill (S3), and the final descent begins with nothing left to change but the flare.

The same set as the precision-landing task drives the circling landing decision:

• ATC advisories (S2): NOTAMs, windshear, wake turbulence, runway surface, braking conditions, and other operational considerations
• Runway selection (R1): weighed against aircraft limitations, available distance, surface conditions, and wind

The circling twist: you often chose this maneuver because of wind — the tailwind that made the straight-in unusable. Confirm the traffic direction (VI.G S2 carries in), verify the landing distance for the actual runway and conditions, and treat LAHSO (R9) with the same authorization-and-distance discipline as any landing clearance.

Yes — same relief as the precision landing: if the approach was flown to a point where a safe landing and full stop could have been made and circumstances beyond your control prevented it, the evaluator may credit the task, or credit Task VI.I (Missed Approach) or Area III Task J (Go-Around/Rejected Landing) when their criteria are met (ACS Appendix 3, Task H). Remember the test still requires three actual landings, one to a full stop overall (ACS Appendix 3, Area III).

1. Downwind: landing configuration complete, landing checklist done (S3, S6), airspeed on the briefed circling speed ±5 knots (S5); PM monitors track against the briefed pattern and calls the abeam point
2. Base turn: begun at the briefed displacement; bank shallow, never past 30° (S4); PF divides attention between the runway and the flight instruments; PM calls airspeed and descent rate — the IPH's PM vertical-speed callout practice during visual transitions applies squarely here (IPH ch. 4)
3. Final descent: leave the circling altitude only from a position for a normal descent (S1); scan the runway and adjoining areas for traffic and obstructions (S7)
4. Touchdown: in the window (S8), on centerline, then drag and braking devices per type (S9)

Any call of "unstable," loss of airport visual contact, or overshoot needing more than 30° of bank converts the maneuver to the missed approach — announced, not debated (S10; VI.G S7).

It's briefed separately because it's flown from the worst possible starting point — low, slow, configured, and pointed somewhere the published missed approach never contemplated — so the crew must climb toward the landing runway first, then intercept the missed approach course (IFH ch. 10), all while retracting configuration on schedule; the published procedure's protection assumed execution from the MAP at or above the MDA. Brief it with specifics before the approach: which way the turn goes from this runway, what altitude you're climbing to, and who's calling the configuration changes. The distractions/task-saturation risk (R6) peaks exactly here.

Unlike a straight-in, your pattern may cross the departure or arrival path of the runway you didn't land on — traffic taking off or going around from a parallel or crossing runway leaves wake through your circling area at circling altitude. Defenses:

• Confirm the traffic picture with ATC before and during the circle (VI.G S2)
• Use the MFD traffic display for the airplanes you can't see, while respecting its limitations
• Keep your pattern inside the protected area rather than drifting wide into another runway's flow (S1)