Flying an ILS approach to minimums doesn’t have to be hard. Use these tips to simplify it and stay focused on the important stuff.

By Bill Straw

When engineers developed the ILS so many years ago, they simultaneously created one of the most reliable and accurate navaids ever. The basic ILS is in use throughout the world and, with appropriate air- and ground-borne hardware, site prep, training and certification, we can use it to fly down to and land without seeing much at all out the windshield.

But those engineers couldn’t do everything. They couldn’t, for example, eliminate the ever-narrowing of the desired course and descent path as we get closer to the runway. They also couldn’t eliminate the need to descend in the first place. In the

Getting down through this cloud deck to a runway might mean shooting an ILS when you really don’t want to. Don’t make it harder than it has to be.

bargain, we’re "saddled with" a well-understood and predictable means to…