Agreed, it doesn't tell you anything about the outbound procedure, but incidents like this one are a fact of life I guess, if you are going to fly through an instrument approach then I guess we should be extra cautious, whichever way we view it we must always assume it's active especially if we are not in contact with the relevant authority.

Avoiding ILS
 

I can well remember my CFI warning me about ILS approach paths during my PPL training:He advised if flying towards one,call the airfield to see if it is active and if it is seriously consider routing around it or better still,plan to avoid it in the first place.
MM

I quite agree with tmmorris that one can look up the approach plates on the ais website, but VFR pilots are unlikely to carry a complete set of plates with them. Thus they won't know the details of the procedure of a field they're passing.

Instrument approach traffic may be inbound on ANY of the runways (though most probably the into wind runway in use). Procedure traffic may also be outbound on runway track (i.e. the reciprocal of the inbound track), or up to 30 degrees either side. The procedure can extend to 10 miles out, sometimes 15 (eg Manchester 24), and extend up to at least 2000 feet, sometimes 3500. The highest point in the procedure is often (but not always) overhead the field. The approach may start with a DME arc, which means arrivals circle the field typically 7-10 miles out before turning in to final approach.

In other words, if you don't know the procedure in use, traffic on the procedure could be moving in any direction anywhere within 10-15 miles of the field, anywhere up to about 3500 feet. And if there's IR traffic arriving, there's probably IR traffic departing.

Sounds like a good reason to talk to ATC when you're anywhere near a field with an instrument approach (unless you're getting a radar service from someone else). I admit I've not always done so, but now try to make a point of it.

Thanks everyone, an interesting post. For my part I can only say that it is the same route my instructor sent me on for my qualifying x-country 3-4 years ago. It is outside (west) of the flute and the incident occured when the jetsteam was outbound, not within the approach flute. My track was 3 nm north of the flute marked on the chart. Bearing in mind the procedure IFR traffic extends north of Bedford/Poddington disused, outside the flute marked on the CAA chart the uninitiated would not necessarily be aware of the increased risk of traffic. Just keep a lookout and fly safe.

Bob out :)