"Modified" is ATC-speak for "sorta."

Yes, but it's a specific kind of "sorta".

Where is it specified?


In the minds of the controllers, and of the pilots, as propagated by
instructors who teach at the airport in question. For example, at EMT
a modified straight in approach (from the North anyway) is one that
comes in over the cement trough that passes for a river in those
parts, and pretty much meets the approach end of the runway.

I learned this more or less through osmosis. (Actually my instructor
probably told me the first time we encounterd it while I was learning
how not to crash).

I don't know how it came about, or when (though I suspect it dates
from early in the history of that tower). I doubt it's specified in
writing anywhere, but that doesn't stop it from being, in fact, specified.

Jose
--
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