KJFKJFKNew York, United States
New York JFK
The Canarsie approach — an instrument segment that ends in a visual curve over a parkway.
13 ftElevation
4 · 13L/31R + moreRunways
Canarsie VOR 13LKnown for
What to watch out for
- The Canarsie VOR/DME approach to 13L/13R is neither a normal instrument approach nor a visual: you fly needles to a point, then turn visually onto final guided by lead-in lights over the Belt Parkway.
- It exists because runway 13 has no straight-in ILS aligned to it — traffic threads between Brooklyn and the parks through New York’s crowded terminal airspace.
- JFK is huge: two pairs of parallel runways, and landing distances differ — 13L offers ~9,093 ft of runway, 13R over 12,000 ft.
- The visual segment happens low — the turn onto final starts around ASALT — so the aircraft must be configured and stable before the curve, not during it.
- The missed approach is a climbing right turn to 4,000 ft on heading 100° to the DPK VOR — into the New York departure flow.
Procedures
The numbers
- CRI VOR (Canarsie)
- 112.3 · CH 70
- Lead-in lights
- 3.2 NM
- from CRI to the 13R threshold
- MAP
- CRI 3.6 NM (13L)
- the visual curve starts here
- Missed approach
- hgd 100° → DPK 117.7
- climbing right turn to 4,000
- Rwy landing distance
- 13L 9,093 ft · 13R 12,467 ft
- Requirement
- DME or RADAR
- printed right on the plate
Flying it in the sim
- ·The plate itself says "DME or RADAR REQUIRED" — on VATSIM they will just vector you, but flying the published procedure is more instructive.
- ·Weather is part of the procedure: the visual segment needs the lead-in lights in sight — be ready to go around or divert before the curve.
- ·Heavy aircraft fly the same path — brief the turn radius, not just the heading.
- ·Follow the parkway, not the runway lights you see early — 13L and 13R are parallel, so confirm which one you are lining up on.