"Jose" wrote in message
m...
"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).


So the meaning of "modified" varies with the location?



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.


Of course it does.