Simplicity and don't hit the hard bits which might be to either side of the prescribed tracking details .. Centaurus has been missing the hard bits for a very long time ... I would heed his counsel. Likewise Ascend Charlie and a couple of other posters.
My understanding is that in executing a Missed Approach under 1.10.1 (a) or (b), you must immediately track and climb as directed by the plate.
.. providing you are intending to maintain the prescribed plate tracking throughout.
However, I have been told there is nothing in the regs that strictly prohibits you from levelling out in the hope of breaking visual
The OP's question relates to a situation where the approach has been screwed up for one reason or another .. unless you can positively maintain the prescribed track you are entertaining a CFIT note in the daily papers. Some approaches wend their way amongst rocky bits ... the question poses the problem that you have lost your way.
"if the regs don't say you can't, you can"
The Regs prescribe minimum standards ... commonsense ought to require something better, one thinks ?
Sometimes the initial missed approach alt is below your current alt so you have to carry on down
You don't have an instrument rating, do you ? Unless you are on the prescribed track, etc., you are not permitted to "carry on down". I do hope that your comment was tongue in cheek
You can go missed at anytime during final segment, so to go missed early and direct climb, you may have issues with driving into the DEP ac, or ac crossing procedures.
Below MSA you must stay on the prescribed track (think about it .. rocky bits to the sides ?) while climbing. Unless you know where you are, you follow the missed right there and then ... climb while tracking to the MAPt and then the prescribed missed approach tracking details.
Separation is a normal management thing so the radio is your friend.
You can give the approach away at any time. For instance, during my initial GA rating test I screwed up the DME letdown and gave it away early, climbed back up and did it right second time around. The DCA examiner (who was a bit of a pedantic chap, if rather affable) wasn't in the least bit concerned. I suspect that, had I tried to salvage it first time around, we might have been going back for a debrief and some more training.
Main thing is .. if you are below the prescribed safe altitudes, one must treat it as a critical terrain avoidance issue.
In case (b) the assumption in the regulation is that you were on the flightpath, and after the MAP/MSA, the radio aid fails
Very well behaved radios in your machine, I would venture.
Reminds me of a tale from one of the initial Ansett DC9 endorsement chaps in the States. The IP pulled an engine on the first takeoff ... when my colleague raised a concern later about this .. the IP observed .. "Well, son, we don't know just when the engine is going to fail over here .."
So what do you suggest you might do if the aid has the temerity to fail during the initial parts of the approach ?
You cannot level off below the MDA before the MAPt, if that is what you are saying, you are outside the criteria to be able to climb and have obstacle protection
So long as you are maintaining the prescribed track and observing minimum altitudes, there is no problem with flying level or climbing ... the obstacle protection is lateral.
best to get directions from ATC rather than the plate and hope
Hope should be the province of religious folk, not pilots. Knowing is better than hoping. What use is ATC unless they have radar data to assist in terrain separation ?
if you KNOW you are safe, proceed; if you can't be SURE that you're safe, go somewhere safe.
Now, that's not a bad attitude, methinks.
Just occasionally you come across a thread on Pprune that you can't believe is an actual discussion and well.. here we are.
I'd go along with that ..
The reason I ask is because you might be surprised how others I've spoken to have interpreted the regs.
The Regs are all well and good .. but sound risk management, if that suggests something more conservative ... is the way to go. Anyway, the only folk who are able to interpret the Regs are the legal eagles. The rest of us use them as a starting point for sensible risk management decision making.
You are on approach in IMC and you don't have a clue where you are. Yes, go around. But if you don't know where you are, then how the hell are you going to track to the missed approach point?
Some places overseas, due to surrounding mountains, you can't do your own thing .. you have to do whatever you can to maximise the probability that you are remaining within the protected areas .. called DR as I recall. Certainly, we are rather fortunate in Oz with terrain .. but, as more than a few over the years have proved ... treat the risks with abandon and the outcome may not be pretty.
There are very few absolute guarantees in flying .. but heaps of risk management decision making ie commonsense.