IFR at Uncontrolled Airport

bc2209 said:
Exactly what happened. There were two guys beneath me in the "stack" holding and shooting the approach and to make things easier I just canceled IFR. Otherwise I was trying to listen to both frequencies, teach a new student, and not get hit.
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Easier for you or ATC?
Make it easier for you, your student, and the training when you need to and make it easy for ATC when it's works for BOTH of you.

I'm NOT stating that you shouldn't help out ATC when you can, just make sure it doesn't punk your training or safety.
 
Ok so some additional details have surfaced.

There were IFR aircraft holding at the IAF ahead of you, and you were direct the IAF. You should have been given holding instructions. You also should have been previously told what approach to expect unless you had already requested one, or it was obvious (obvious, for example, because that IAF only served one approach).
 
Yea I'm a little confused as well... if the controller just left you going towards the iaf with no further instruction I'm guessing he thought he had given you holding instructions but it doesn't make it better... if your confused always ask so you're on the same page. A controller also shouldn't be soliciting an IFR cancellation...
 
cmac88 said:
Yea I'm a little confused as well... if the controller just left you going towards the iaf with no further instruction I'm guessing he thought he had given you holding instructions but it doesn't make it better... if your confused always ask so you're on the same page. A controller also shouldn't be soliciting an IFR cancellation..
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I suspect there was some confusion on both ends of the mike. Without hearing the actual communications, we really don't know. bc2209 tells us he's not that familiar with nontowered IFR operations. ATC might have been waiting for him to tell them what approach he wanted and misunderstood his "prompt," and was asking and not suggesting. By the same token, it's standard for ATC to instruct pilots heading IFR into nontowered airports to "report cancellation of IFR this frequency or with flight service."

As a number of others have already said, which approach to use into a nontowered airport is pretty much our choice. I've had ATC ask what approach I wanted. I've also had ATC say nothing and wait for me to ask for one (which may have happened in the OP's situation). I've also had ATC tell me to "expect the visual" when I was in solid clouds - they don;t necessarily know what the weather is at nontowered airports, especially those below radar coverage.

BTW, I did once have ATC actually suggest cancellation to me. It's potentially dangerous to do it because pilots have an unfortunate tendency to take even non-instuctions as some kind of gospel. But it can be helpful, as it was in my case. I was flying IFR in CAVU conditions in a piston from south of KDEN to an airport in Nebraska. After heading east, then east, then east, then further east..., ATC came on to ask, "Is this an IFR training flight?" When I answered "no," he replied, "Well, I'm not going to be able to turn you north for another 20 miles so you might think about going VFR."
 
The "stack" the OP refers to is the Stanfield/Casa Grande (TFD/KCGZ) stack used in the practice area south of Phoenix. I've done a number of IFR flights to Casa Grande and Albuquerque Center will often times clear you in for the ILS approach while at the same time there's anywhere from three to five other aircraft all operating VFR circling over the VOR or on various stages of the approaches (ILS/LOC, VOR, and GPS for runway 5). About a month ago I had center clear me for the approach with a descent to 4000ft while at the same time there were VFR aircraft in the published holding pattern over the VOR directly in the final approach course at 3500, 4000, and 4500 ft. Had I not been monitoring CTAF on COM2 I'm pretty sure my student would have blindly followed center's instructions and even if we managed to avoid the traffic holding at 4000 we probably would have descended on top of the guy at 3500 as he shot the practice approach.

That being said, center around here will usually tell you "vectors for visual" on most VFR days and won't give you an instrument approach unless it's less than VFR weather or you specifically request it.
 
MikeD said:
Stupid Stanfield stack. And worse, the Stanfield stack nazis who are on freq often.
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My first encounter with the stack involved doing the approach under IFR and being chewed out by some helicopter CFI for "cutting in line." That place is a zoo.
 
pwttogfk said:
My first encounter with the stack involved doing the approach under IFR and being chewed out by some helicopter CFI for "cutting in line." That place is a zoo.
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IFR trumps. :)

It's a total flightschool zoo. "where is the top of the stack?"
 
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