Landing at Telluride

Hello, so I want to make a flight to Telluride airport but had a question about how to approach it. So the first waypoint on the approach chart is HODLO which should be crossed at 12,000ft but can you approach it from any direction or is there a special route you need to follow? I will probably depart from LAX and will land on runway 9 so should be a fairly straight in approach.

Thanks

Hello, so I want to make a flight to Telluride airport but had a question about how to approach it. So the first waypoint on the approach chart is HODLO which should be crossed at 12,000ft but can you approach it from any direction or is there a special route you need to follow? I will probably depart from LAX and will land on runway 9 so should be a fairly straight in approach.

 

Thanks

https://resources.globalair.com/dtpp/globalair_06920l9.pdf

HODLO approach

I don't know much about real aviation, but I can tell you from flying in the PMDG 737 using an FMC that it would depend on your STAR on how you approach HODLO. You would probably create a flight plan that crosses the VOR Cones (ETL).

Unfortunately Telluride doesn't have any STARS as far as I know but from what I understand then I can just fly either to Cones or HODLO and as long as I stay above 12,000 I should be fine.

Unfortunately Telluride doesn't have any STARS as far as I know but from what I understand then I can just fly either to Cones or HODLO and as long as I stay above 12,000 I should be fine.

You need to study the approach plate and get the MSA, then combine that with the crossing altitude on the approach, and you can plan a safe approach. Gotta be aware of mountains.....especially in reduced vis :)

So you're doing the localizer approach to runway 9? Note that DME is required, too -- there's no glideslope at TEX. As silverheels says, you must study the approach plate (mallcott gave you a link for it), noting the MSA (Minimum Safe Altitude) which is 11,300 if you are in the northwest quadrant of the MSA circle, but 15,400 from the rest of it, due to some peaks over 14,000 ft. not that far away.

HODLO isn't the first point on the approach, the IAF (Initial Approach Fix) is the CONES VOR ( (ETL, 110.2), 5.1 NM northwest of HODLO.

can you approach it from any direction

No, on a much older plate I have laying around it says "Procedure Turn NA" (not authorized), and on the current one it says "Procedure NA for arrivals at ETL VOR/DME on V382 northwest bound" so you'll need to approach from a general westerly direction. It appears the procedure is designed for those coming in on V68 from the southwest (northeast bound) or on V382 southeast bound.

The MDA on the current plate is 11,340, and missed approach must be initiated (if needed) no later than 1.2 DME. Since the airport elevation is 9070, that's almost 2300 feet above the runway, so you have to have what would otherwise be considered VFR weather to succeed on the approach.

Learn to read those approach plates -- there's a tremendous amount of information on them.

I can tell you from flying in the PMDG 737 using an FMC that it would depend on your STAR on how you approach HODLO

As jt23 indicates, there are no STARS or SIDS for TEX -- those typically are only there for major airports.

Hello, so I want to make a flight to Telluride airport but had a question about how to approach it. So the first waypoint on the approach chart is HODLO which should be crossed at 12,000ft but can you approach it from any direction or is there a special route you need to follow? I will probably depart from LAX and will land on runway 9 so should be a fairly straight in approach.

 

Thanks

This is the flight plan and chart that I use for this. Hope it helps.

KLAX Gardy3 BEALE J146 DVC V68 ETL KTEX