Originally Posted by
aterpster
That's what I meant by my hypothetical clearance:
"Descend via the track and altitudes of the FMS visual. Expect clearance for the visual passing JANYY."
Later, I am going to plot the FMS28R on the NCT MVAs.
I would assume you are always above the MVA. It is common enough in Australia to have visual STARs that provide tracking to ultimately align with the runway and end with a visual approach. You get progressively stepped down by the controller as you track via the STAR (an Aus thing, they could just as easily clear you to "descend via the STAR" but that is not yet done here). Once you call "visual" you get cleared for the visual approach. An example is the LIZZI 4V into Melbourne. So it can all be in IMC right up to the very end but you're never using it to descend below the MVA.