Here in the US, an MSA is not an operational altitude. One may not descend until on a charted portion of the approach or airway leading to the IAF after having been cleared for the approach. This rule was paid for in blood as are many others.
I got a funny variation of this today, at EGHH.
I wish I had it recorded. It was a vector towards the ILS, with an instruction like “turn left xxx for the ILS”.
It was obviously a clearance to intercept the LOC, but no “cleared for” was used. Interesting…
They have also finished using the “report localiser established” followed by “descend with the glideslope” which was commonly used.
The other funny one was that the last descent was to 2000ft, not the 1500ft ILS platform.
Peter wrote:
The other funny one was that the last descent was to 2000ft, not the 1500ft ILS platform.
I always double-check in cases like this whether I’m cleared to descend to glideslope after establishing on localizer if not clearly said to avoid ambiguity.
Yes a quick “Confirm cleared ILS runway x?” should do the trick.
Peter wrote:
The other funny one was that the last descent was to 2000ft, not the 1500ft ILS platform.
This is particularly annoying when the GS is U/S and they are LOC only, but the controller forgets that, and clears you to a higher altitude (as normal for a full ILS) so you don’t notice that you are high at the FAF or the CDFA. Been there, done that :-(
