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R U down with VDP's? Visual descent points are one of those IFR subtleties that separate the hacks from the pros. (Don't worry. It's easy to go pro.).

Article Excerpt
Pop quiz: What are the three conditions required to descend below MDA or DA? If you answered, "Ability to make a normal descent and landing, flight vis at or above published vis, and runway environment in sight", you get a B+.

If you answered, "Aren't there four conditions?" then go to the head of the class. The fourth is unknown to the vast majority of pilots: The airplane must have reached or passed the visual descent point (VDP), if published.

Why Bother with the V?

I can hear the head scratching from many of you now. VDPs are one of those little IFR tidbits that slip from the awareness of many pilots. VDPs aren't frequently used (and become less important every day with vertical guidance courtesy of WAAS), yet they can still be a bacon saver and are worthy of a minute's review.

Only found on non-precision approaches where some means of along-track-distance determination exists (DME or GPS), a VDP is displayed by a "V" on the profile view. It represents the point in space where an aircraft at MDA would intersect a three-degree descent path to the runway and where most VASIs/PAPIs would show white and...

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