Recently, I was giving an IPC to a friend in his J model Mooney. We decided to fly the Boca Raton (KBCT) VOR‑A approach using GPS for the final approach segment (FAS).
The approach starts at the Palm Beach (PBI) VORTAC and the FAS is 17.7 NM long.
We were north and outside of the PBI Class C where we set up the approach. Keep in mind that this is the last remaining VOR approach in SE Florida. Then we called approach.
“Palm Beach Approach, Mooney 12345, 15 miles north of Palm Beach, requesting the VOR alpha approach to Boca.”
Silence.
After a while, Approach asked us to repeat the request. After repeating the request, more silence. (There might have been some scrambling.)
Then Palm Beach came back and said: “Mooney 12345, Palm Beach Approach. Why would anyone want to fly that approach?”
Our response: “Just for fun.”
We did get a clearance and flew it twice, once using GPS and the other time using VOR. Needless to say, the GPS approach was much more precise.
Luca Bencini‑Tibo
Weston, FL
The other obvious answer would have been: “Because it’s there…”. With apologies to Mr. Mallory of course.