Narrative:

On arrival into lfpg we were executing the lorni 1W transition to runway 26L. We were in LNAV after passing PG520. This course set us up for an intercept with the localizer for 26L. Approaching the 26L localizer we were never given instructions to join. As we were passing through the localizer I initiated a turn using heading to turn back to the localizer. At this point we were asked by the controller if we intended to join the localizer. The captain responded that we were in the turn to join. We rejoined the localizer from the south side and executed a normal ILS approach to landing.a better and more thorough briefing of this approach would have helped to prevent this deviation. Lfpg has a general operating rule [2.6.3] that if you are given a heading within 70 degrees of the localizer course; you are expected to join the course without instructions to do so. I have never actually had to use that rule to intercept a course in lfpg and therefore typically await instructions to join a course. In this case it appeared we were expected to use that rule without prompting. Additionally; this is the only airport that I have operated into that has this expectation. Having never had to utilize this rule in practice throughout 1 year operating in the european theater had led me to develop an impression it was never used. Therefore; it was something that had been dropped from my approach briefing. In the future I will brief the expectation that without specific prompting from ATC; we will join the localizer course if our existing heading is within 70 degrees of localizer course.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B757 flight crew reports not being instructed to join the localizer during approach to LFPG and overshooting before turning back to intercept. LFPG has a special rule about joining the localizer without being instructed to do so; which the crew had forgotten.

Narrative: On arrival into LFPG we were executing the LORNI 1W transition to Runway 26L. We were in LNAV after passing PG520. This course set us up for an intercept with the localizer for 26L. Approaching the 26L localizer we were never given instructions to join. As we were passing through the localizer I initiated a turn using HDG to turn back to the localizer. At this point we were asked by the Controller if we intended to join the localizer. The Captain responded that we were in the turn to join. We rejoined the localizer from the south side and executed a normal ILS approach to landing.A better and more thorough briefing of this approach would have helped to prevent this deviation. LFPG has a general operating rule [2.6.3] that if you are given a heading within 70 degrees of the localizer course; you are expected to join the course without instructions to do so. I have never actually had to use that rule to intercept a course in LFPG and therefore typically await instructions to join a course. In this case it appeared we were expected to use that rule without prompting. Additionally; this is the only airport that I have operated into that has this expectation. Having never had to utilize this rule in practice throughout 1 year operating in the European theater had led me to develop an impression it was never used. Therefore; it was something that had been dropped from my approach briefing. In the future I will brief the expectation that without specific prompting from ATC; we will join the localizer course if our existing heading is within 70 degrees of localizer course.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.