Definition
An approach procedure that may be used by a pilot, in lieu of conducting a standard or special instrument approach to an airport, operating clear of clouds with at least one statute mile flight visibility and having a reasonable expectation of continuing to the destination airport in those conditions. A contact approach must be requested by the pilot and authorized by ATC, and the destination airport must have a standard or special instrument approach procedure published.
Plain English
A contact approach is when a pilot on an IFR flight plan asks ATC for permission to fly visually to the airport instead of flying a published instrument approach. The pilot must stay out of the clouds, have at least one mile of visibility, and reasonably expect those conditions to hold all the way to landing.
Context Anchor
Used during IFR arrivals when the pilot can see enough outside to navigate visually to the airport but is still operating on an IFR clearance.
Derivation
Contact' here comes from the older aviation sense of 'contact flying,' meaning flying by visual reference to the ground rather than by instruments. The word survives in this term to signal that the pilot intends to navigate visually, in contact with the surface below.
Why Pilots Care
It provides a legal way to reach airports without instrument approaches while still operating under an IFR flight plan, reducing unnecessary diversions.
Intuition Check
Do not read “contact” as radio contact or radar contact. In a contact approach, the key idea is visual contact with the surface while still operating under an IFR clearance.
Example Sentence 1
With the field reporting two miles visibility under a low overcast, the pilot requested a contact approach to save the time of flying the full ILS procedure.
Example Sentence 2
Cleared for the contact approach, the aircraft descended visually to the runway while staying below the cloud layer.