diff --git a/ArduPlane/quadplane.cpp b/ArduPlane/quadplane.cpp
index dfbf1ecbd6..fa4e3c655a 100644
--- a/ArduPlane/quadplane.cpp
+++ b/ArduPlane/quadplane.cpp
@@ -2586,13 +2586,14 @@ void QuadPlane::run_xy_controller(void)
  */
 void QuadPlane::poscontrol_init_approach(void)
 {
+    const float dist = plane.current_loc.get_distance(plane.next_WP_loc);
     if ((options & OPTION_DISABLE_APPROACH) != 0) {
         // go straight to QPOS_POSITION1
         poscontrol.set_state(QPOS_POSITION1);
+        gcs().send_text(MAV_SEVERITY_INFO,"VTOL Position1 d=%.1f", dist);
     } else if (poscontrol.get_state() != QPOS_APPROACH) {
         // check if we are close to the destination. We don't want to
         // do a full approach when very close
-        const float dist = plane.current_loc.get_distance(plane.next_WP_loc);
         if (dist < transition_threshold()) {
             if (is_tailsitter() || motors->get_desired_spool_state() == AP_Motors::DesiredSpoolState::THROTTLE_UNLIMITED) {
                 gcs().send_text(MAV_SEVERITY_INFO,"VTOL position1 d=%.1f", dist);