Procedural vs Basic Service
So I'm sitting there as safety pilot while we practice instrument approaches at an airport outside controlled airspace without radar, as I have done from time to time for the last 15 years. But this is the first such sortie since the ATSOCAS changes in March.
Our clearance to hold is an IFR clearance. Another IFR arrival is inbound from above our level. The controller asks us, "What type of service do you require, Basic or Procedural?" Blank looks between the crew members follow. "Basic" we reply. Then with us in the hold, the other IFR inbound is cleared for the procedure maintaining a level above us, and then, when past us, cleared to descend maintaining VMC through our level (with all the required conditions for that met). We continue to receive what appear to be IFR clearances.
Three intertwined Qs:
1) What separation if any can we expect when carrying out a terminal procedure (hold or IAP) under IFR with a basic service?
2) If, as I expect, the answer to 1 is "none", why was the "descent in VMC" manoeuvre (which I understand to be in lieu of separation) necessary? Couldn't he simply have descended through our level while inbound?
3) What does an IFR clearance to an aircraft on a basic service actually signify these days, given that, OCAS, it has never signified permission, and apparently no longer guarantees separation from other IFR flights?
(Yes, I could have called the ATC unit in question to ask, but I thought I'd pose the question here. And I'm not suggesting that ATC did anything wrong.)