visual-maneuvering area

visual-maneuvering (circling) area

The area in which the obstacle clearance should be taken into consideration for aircraft carrying out a circling approach (ICAO). It is the visual phase of flight after completing an instrument approach to bring an aircraft into position for landing on a runway not suitably located for a straight-in approach. The visual-maneuvering area for a circling approach is determined by drawing arcs centered on each runway threshold and joining those arcs with tangent lines. The radius of the arcs is related to the aircraft category, the speed for each category, the wind speed [25 knots (46 km/h) is taken throughout the turn], and the bank angle (20° average or 3°/s, whichever requires less bank). It is permissible to eliminate from consideration a particular sector where a prominent obstacle exists in the visual-maneuvering (circling area outside the final approach and missed approach) area. When this option is exercised, the published procedure prohibits circling within the total sector in which the obstacle exists.