UK - "When Established on the Localiser, Descend on the Glideslope"
Whilst the addition of this phrase in the UK environment has been a huge improvement over the old system (at least for us pilots), where in the past approaches became unstable because a controller could not get the call in to "descend with the glideslope." However, the way this is said causes us problems. I'll explain.
I am a Brit, flying with almost exclusively pilots who do not have English as their first language. Whilst their English abilities are very good, they seem to struggle with this phrase.
The intention of the controller is that the aircraft establishes on the localiser of the ILS and then is cleared thereafter to descend on the procedure with no further clarification. Why then could NATS not have adopted the almost universal "Cleared for the Approach" phrase which is universally understood and more importantly easy to say. NATS are all for reducing the amount of what is said on the RT, but look at the two examples:
"Birdseed 1234, turn left heading 270, when established on the localiser runway 30, descend on the glideslope."
Or
"Birdseed 1234, turn left heading 270, cleared for the approach Runway 30."
If the controller does not want the pilot to descend, using the second example, he merely says "Birdseed 1234, cleared for the localiser Runway 30." I think that is emphatic enough for most people.
Are there any over-riding reasons why the long-winded method is used? They have to remember that many people do not have English as their first language.
I sent a message to NATS when it was first introduced but got no reply. In practice, my colleagues all ask "why not cleared for the approach?"
Maybe someone from ATC can enlighten me?