minimumunstick:
Another question I have never really seen a proper answer to written anywhere:
Let's say you are on a long final for a straight in approach. You have not reached the IAF yet but you are on the inbound course. On the approach plate there is a racetrack procedure depicted (I use racetrack for this example, might as well be any type of procedure turn or baseturn) to get you established on the inbound course.
If ATC clears you for the approach, without having to clarify with ATC, are you cleared to continue straight in from the IAF, assuming you are already established at the correct altitude? Or are you still required to complete a lap in the racetrack, as it is "bolded out" on the chart and thereby a mandatory part of the approach procedure?
I have heard so many different versions on this, but what I hear most often is that you must actually do the racetrack unless specifically allowed by ATC to continue straight in. But to me that seems a bit odd as you are already established and doing a lap in the racetrack would just take up extra time and fuel..
Your present position would presumably be on an unpublished extension of the final approach course. It is difficult to comment without an example IAP. In the U.S. ATC would be required to provide you an altitude to maintain until entering a published segment of the IAP. If this was in fact an extenstion of the final approach course presumably this would be a vector to "the final approach," which would supercede the course reversal, also presuming an altitude compatible with the altitude inbound from the course reversal.