1.5.1   General

The holding, approach and departure procedures in use are based on those contained in the latest edition of
ICAO PANS-OPS Doc. 8168 - Volume III.

1.5.2   Arriving flights

IFR flights entering and landing within a Terminal Control Area will be cleared to a specified holding point and instructed to contact Approach Control at specified time, level or position: the terms of this clearance shall be adhered to until further instructions are received from Approach Control. If the clearance limit is reached before further instructions have been received, holding procedures shall be carried out at the level last authorized.

Due to the limited airspace available, it is of importance that the approaches to the patterns and the holding procedures are carried out as exactly as possible. Pilots are strongly requested to inform ATC if for any reason the approach and/or holding cannot be performed as required.

1.5.3   Departing flights

IFR flights departing from controlled aerodromes will receive initial clearance from the local Aerodrome Control Tower. The clearance limit will normally be the aerodrome of destination.

IFR flights departing from non-controlled aerodromes will not take-off without prior arrangements with the Area Control Centre concerned.

Detailed instructions will be issued with regard to routes, turns, etc., after take-off, except on those cases where SID’s are published and applicable.

IFR flights departing from controlled aerodromes, by day only and having due regard to prevailing meteorological conditions, may be cleared for a visual departure maintaining terrain clearance visually until MSA or Minimum Vectoring Altitude.

1.5.4   Other relevant information and procedures

The inbound, transit and outbound routes shown in ENR 3.6 , may be varied at the discretion of ATC.

If necessary, in case of congestion, inbound aircraft may also be instructed to hold at one of the designated airways reporting points.

a) Within LISBOA FIR TMAs, unless otherwise advised by ATC, Speed Adjustment under Radar Control on Arrivals to Alverca (LPAR), Cascais (LPCS AD 2.22), Faro (LPFR AD 2.22), Lisboa (LPPT AD 2.22), Madeira (LPMA AD 2.22), Montijo (LPMT), Porto (LPPR AD 2.22) and Porto Santo (LPPS AD 2.22) shall be in accordance with the following:

1. Maximum IAS 280KT between FL245 and FL100;
2. Maximum IAS 250KT at and below FL100;
3. Maximum IAS 220KT at and below FL070;
4. Maximum IAS 200KT at and below 4000FT;
5. Maximum IAS between 180KT and 160KT when established on the final approach segment and thereafter 160KT until 4NM from Threshold

Within LISBOA FIR TMAs, unless otherwise advised by ATC, speed adjustment under Radar Control on Departures from Cascais (LPCS AD 2.22) and Lisboa (LPPT AD 2.22) shall be in accordance with the following:

1. Maximum IAS 250KT at and below FL100 is applicable unless otherwise advised by ATC. Military Flights are exempted.

If for any reason pilots are unable to comply with the 250KT IAS restriction the pilot should immediately advise ATC and state the minimum acceptable speed. If pilots anticipate before departure that they will be unable to comply with the speed restriction, they should inform ATC when requesting Start-Up clearance, stating the minimum speed acceptable.

Additionally, ATC may request specific speeds for accurate spaces.

Noise abatement procedures apply regardless of the speed limit restriction.

b) Radar Vectoring and sequencing

Normally, aircraft will be vectored and sequenced from any point of a STAR procedure to the appropriate final approach track, so as to ensure an expeditious flow of traffic. Radar vectors and flight levels/altitudes will be issued, as required, for spacing, and separating the aircraft, so that correct landing intervals are maintained, taking into account aircraft characteristics.

NOTE: Details for the provision of radar services are described in ENR 1.6 .

RNP APCH is charted as RNAV (GNSS). To be approved to fly a RNAV (GNSS) approach procedure, not only the crew must comply with the requirements expressed in the AMC 20-27 (EASA) as well as the aircraft must be equipped with a GNSS/GPS based RNAV system, certified in compliance with the RNP specification for the RNP APCH.

Operators shall have procedures in place (ASRs - Air Safety Reports) to report database errors. The information related with database errors shall be also be sent to Direção de Segurança Operacional of ANAC.

In order to avoid that in certain circumstances, because of GNSS unavailability or abnormal signal reception while performing a RNAV (GNSS) approach , users are unable to land at their destination aerodrome, pilots are requested to provide information to the ATS unit whenever the quality of the satellite constellation is not sufficient for the intended approach-to-land procedure, and request ‘contingency procedures’ (i.e. proceeding with ground based navigational sources and/or radar vectors).

An aerodrome with only a RNAV (GNSS) approach cannot be chosen when selecting it as departure alternate aerodrome.

A minima line is provided for each of available approach procedure type at a specific runway:

• NPA - Lateral navigation (LNAV) or Localizer performance (LP) minima line;
• APV Baro - LNAV/VNAV (Lateral navigation/Vertical navigation) minima line;
• APV SBAS - Localizer performance with vertical guidance (LPV) minima line.

For LNAV and Baro-VNAV, the effective use of the procedure shall be based on the information of the actual availability of GNSS signal detected on board the aircraft by RAIM (ABAS system equipped) or equivalent function.

Pilot that have informed ATS of the intention to fly a RNAV (GNSS) approach procedure, and an in-flight RAIMprediction indicates that RAIM will not be available at the expected approach time shall advise ATS and specify intentions as soon as practicable (delay the approach, use another navigational source IAP, or alternate).

If a RAIM alert is displayed when the aircraft is established on the final approach course, pilot shall not continue the approach using GNSS guidance.

Prediction of possible missing RAIM may be found:

• using the internet on the Eurocontrol GPS Predictive RAIM Tool address:

  URL:http://augur.ecacnav.com

• through appropriate NOTAM issued by NAV Portugal AIS with the predicted unavailability periods of satellites in GPS constellation.

For LNAV approaches, in some cases, particularly in aerodromes located in the Portuguese islands, due to terrain constraints on one side of the aerodrome, a circling may be performed and the missed approach point may be established up to 3 NM from the runway threshold.

For LPV approach procedures, the effective use of the procedure shall be based on the information on actual level of service of EGNOS.

For LPV operations using EGNOS vertical guidance, the service area, covering Portugal Mainland, is detailed in Safety of Life Service Definition Document:

Upon preparation of a flight bound for an aerodrome with a RNAV (GNSS) approach leading to LPV minima, the approach availability shall be checked by the operator. For this purpose, they must use information contained in EGNOS NOTAMs specifying EGNOS service unavailability.

To perform a RNAV (GNSS) approach leading to LPV minima, it is not required to perform a RAIM forecast because the integrity is directly managed by geostationary EGNOS satellites.

EGNOS NOTAM are issued for each aerodrome with a RNAV (GNSS) procedure with LPV minima. The condition of GPS satellites and EGNOS infrastructure is periodically assessed in order to issue NOTAM if necessary. In addition to EGNOS NOTAM, it is also recommended to consult EGNOS service notifications available on web site:

In case of expected unavailability of EGNOS NOTAM, LPV minima are no longer accessible and the crew must use other means of navigation, for instance NPA with LNAV minima (which is not dependable on EGNOS), choose another destination, or, hold the flight.