Index: /trunk/Ohana/src/libdvo/src/dvo_catalog.c
===================================================================
--- /trunk/Ohana/src/libdvo/src/dvo_catalog.c	(revision 14449)
+++ /trunk/Ohana/src/libdvo/src/dvo_catalog.c	(revision 14450)
@@ -235,4 +235,10 @@
   status = gfits_scan (&catalog[0].header, "SORTED", "%t", 1, &catalog[0].sorted);
   if (!status) catalog[0].sorted = TRUE;
+
+  // even if the data is sorted on disk, if we only load the MEAS_META, we are
+  // treating it as unsorted (eg, append only)
+  if (catalog[0].catflags & LOAD_MEAS_META) {
+      catalog[0].sorted = FALSE;
+  }
 
   // determine catmode