Blog Elements : IFR Focus

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Mastering the Localizer (and Back Course)

July 25, 2025/by Eric Radtke

Mastering back course approaches is an exercise in situational awareness and instrumentation discipline. Pilots who don’t understand reverse sensing can easily find themselves drifting further from the intended path while chasing a misleading CDI.

Why Real-World Missed Approaches Feel So Hard

July 22, 2025/by John Zimmerman

Despite the of precision WAAS approaches, real-time weather apps, and dependable automation, the missed approach hasn’t gone away—it’s just become rarer and, for many pilots, more difficult. In that way, it’s a maneuver that tests not just your stick and rudder skills, but your mindset. This article, based on a real-world go-around, shares six rules that can help you stay sharp and stay safe when the unexpected happens.

Mastering the Localizer (and Back Course)

July 25, 2025/by Eric Radtke

Why Real-World Missed Approaches Feel So Hard

July 22, 2025/by John Zimmerman

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

Mastering the Localizer (and Back Course)

July 25, 2025/by Eric Radtke

The localizer is a critical component of every Instrument Landing System (ILS) approach, providing the lateral guidance that brings the airplane to the runway. While most pilots are familiar with the basics of flying a localizer, precise tracking takes practice—and the back course variant can be tricky.

Before you dive in, let’s review some essential concepts to sharpen your understanding.

What is a Localizer?

Think of the localizer as an electronic extension of the runway centerline. It provides lateral (left/right) guidance for an ILS approach. The localizer signal is transmitted from an antenna typically located 1,000 feet beyond the far end of the runway, operating on one of 40 reserved frequencies between 108.1 and 111.95 MHz.

The signal is far more precise than a VOR—about four times more sensitive. Full-scale CDI deflection on a localizer typically represents only 5 degrees, which translates to about 350 feet from centerline at the runway threshold. The sensitivity of this guidance makes precise heading control a must.

The localizer antenna is typically located 1,000 feet beyond the far end of the runway.

How to Fly the Localizer

Flying the localizer is all about small, smooth corrections and disciplined heading control:

Outside the outer marker (typically 4–7 miles out): Limit heading corrections to 5° or less.
Inside the outer marker: Limit corrections to 2° or less. Use gentle rudder inputs for very fine adjustments.
Avoid overcorrecting—S-turns across the centerline waste time and add risk during an already busy phase of flight.

Maintaining an exact heading—even in calm air—can be deceptively difficult. Practicing heading discipline during en route legs can pay big dividends when you’re inside the FAF with low visibility ahead.

The Back Course Twist

Some localizers also transmit a signal in the opposite direction, known as the back course. These approaches are less common but still appear in certain parts of the country.

Flying the back course adds complexity due to reverse sensing—where your CDI needle deflects opposite to the aircraft’s actual position. That means:

When using a traditional CDI, you must fly away from the needle to stay on course.
Set the OBS to the approach course as a visual reminder, even though it won’t center the needle like a VOR.
Disregard the glide slope—it’s false information on a back course.
If using an HSI, set it to the front course of the localizer to eliminate reverse sensing and fly toward the needle as normal.

Flying the back course adds complexity due to reverse sensing—where your CDI needle deflects opposite to the aircraft’s actual position.

Try It Yourself: Interactive Localizer and Back Course Simulators

To help visualize these concepts, we’ve created two interactive simulators that let you drag the aircraft left or right on either a standard localizer or a localizer back course and watch how the CDI responds.

Localizer Instrument Approach Simulator

Back Course Instrument Approach Simulator

Whether you’re new to instrument flying or teaching the next generation of IFR pilots, understanding how to track a localizer—and its more confusing sibling, the back course—is essential. A few minutes with these tools will make the signals click in a way that no textbook can.

Why Real-World Missed Approaches Feel So Hard

July 22, 2025/by John Zimmerman

Editor’s Note: We all brief the missed. We all practice it on checkrides. But when it actually happens—in real weather, close to minimums—the missed approach can feel less like a standard maneuver and more like a surprise emergency.

Despite the of precision WAAS approaches, real-time weather, and dependable automation, the missed approach hasn’t gone away—it’s just become rarer and, for many pilots, more difficult. In that way, it’s a maneuver that tests not just your stick and rudder skills, but your mindset. This article, based on a real-world go-around, shares six rules that can help you stay sharp and stay safe when the unexpected happens.

I recently flew one of the rarest maneuvers in aviation: a real missed approach in instrument conditions. While we all practice them during initial instrument training and (hopefully) as a part of regular proficiency flights, actual missed approaches are pretty rare. The combination of widely available WAAS approaches and in-flight weather tools means that we usually have a pretty good idea we will get in before starting an approach.

missed approach

Not so on this day. The weather wasn’t terrible, but a low cloud layer sparked by isolated rain showers made it tricky. The METAR was fluctuating from just above minimums to just below minimums, so we decided to take a shot. Unfortunately, at the missed approach point there were no lights so the power came up and we diverted to our alternate.

Simple, right? Not so much.

While I was intellectually prepared for a missed approach, I really wasn’t emotionally prepared (spring-loaded, as my instrument instructor might have said). I hadn’t done this for real in years. So when it came time to execute this seemingly simple maneuver, I ended up getting behind the airplane just a bit. I was coping, not flying. You might call it the three stages of the missed approach mindset: shock at having to go around, a feeling of being overwhelmed by all the tasks that needed to be completed, and finally a temptation to try it again. None of these are good.

To combat that mindset, here are a few rules I made for myself:

Use the autopilot. While you should be able to hand fly an approach down to minimums, that doesn’t mean you have to do it every time. When it’s really low, I think it’s much safer to let the autopilot fly. That makes you management, not labor, so you can keep the big picture in mind and be ready to react. It’s hard to be spring-loaded to go around if you’re task-saturated and busy keeping the wings level.
Plan ahead – and don’t change your mind. Cruise flight is a good time to make a plan for your approach and potential missed approach procedure. Think through exactly what the approach sequence will look like: what power settings will you use, what descent rate will you use, what are you looking for at DA/MDA and what is the first thing you’ll do if you go missed? Talk it through before you get busy and commit to this plan.
Don’t cheat – don’t even hesitate. Easier said than done, but it’s critical to stay disciplined here. On my missed approach, we saw glimpses of the ground right as we started the missed approach. But this was a sucker hole – we could see down, but not ahead to the runway. Don’t dive for a hole, don’t “go down another 50 feet,” and don’t drive on passed the MAP in the hopes that something miraculous will happen. Stick to the plan. There is no gray area here and no negotiation: land the airplane because you see the runway environment at minimums or go around.
Approach lights matter. I once knew the difference between REIL, MALSR and all the rest of the approach lighting systems, but I long ago forgot the particulars. These may seem like academic nuances, but on a low approach, briefing the approach lighting system and knowing what to expect can make a big difference. In my case, the runway only had the two REILs, which are not nearly as visible as a full “rabbit.”
Climb and maintain control; the rest can wait. When you decide to execute the missed approach, it’s time to climb – now. Don’t mess with the GPS and don’t look at the approach chart. The essential first step is to add power and climb out quickly, while keeping the airplane under control. If you’ve briefed your approach (and your missed approach), you already know what to do. ATC can wait, your passengers can wait and even your avionics can wait until you’ve started climbing and are stabilized.
No second approaches. It’s so tempting to come back around for another try, especially if you saw one of those sucker holes at minimums. Don’t do it. The accident record shows that second approaches often end badly, because the temptation to cheat is very strong. Unless you did something badly wrong on the first approach, don’t even give yourself the opportunity to mess up on round two.

Although we don’t usually think of it that way, the missed approach is really a maximum performance maneuver. In the span of about 60 seconds – and at very low altitude – you are forced to climb at Vy, change the aircraft configuration, reprogram the GPS and talk on the radio. All this while maintaining control in the clouds. The key is to make your decisions long before you ever start the approach, so a missed approach is an automatic reaction. MDA is no time to be making decisions; it’s a time for executing what you’ve already planned.

And as always, fly the freakin’ airplane!

Half Sized Blog Element (Single Author Style)

Half Sized Blog Element (Multi Author Style)

Mastering the Localizer (and Back Course)

Why Real-World Missed Approaches Feel So Hard

Mastering the Localizer (and Back Course)

Why Real-World Missed Approaches Feel So Hard

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

Mastering the Localizer (and Back Course)

What is a Localizer?

How to Fly the Localizer

The Back Course Twist

Try It Yourself: Interactive Localizer and Back Course Simulators

Localizer Instrument Approach Simulator

Back Course Instrument Approach Simulator

Why Real-World Missed Approaches Feel So Hard

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