Plain English Meaning

The different kinds of instrument approaches a pilot can fly to land, grouped by what kind of guidance the approach gives — side-to-side only, or both side-to-side and up-and-down.

Full Definition

The categories of instrument approach procedures available to pilots for transitioning from the en route or terminal environment to a landing, classified by the kind of navigation guidance they provide. The two broad groupings are precision approaches, which provide both lateral (course) and vertical (glidepath) electronic guidance to defined minimums, and non-precision approaches, which provide lateral guidance only or, in the case of approaches with vertical guidance (APV), or barometric vertical information that does not meet precision . Common examples include , , , , , , and () approaches.