Ron Rosenfeld wrote
The procedure is (should be) to instruct you to maintain an
altitude that will ensure obstacle clearance until you are established on a
segment of a published route or instrument approach.

Right. My point is that you're not on vectors, you're not on a solid
black line, you're below OROCA/MSA, and you're still OK.

I agree with what you have said. However, the 91.177 1000/2000/4 altitudes
apply only if there is no applicable minimum altitude prescribed in Part 95
or 97. It is not clear to me whether the MSA, even though it is prescribed
in Part 97, is an "applicable minimum altitude".

Well, I think that was the point - it's an emergency altitude only,
and thus not an applicable minimum altitude. Ref 97.3(l) MSA means
minimum safe altitude, an emergency altitude expressed in feet above
mean sea level, which provides 1,000 feet clearance over all
obstructions in that sector within 25 miles of the facility on which
the procedure is based (LOM in ILS procedures).

However, given that the area is controlled airspace, the likelihood is that
an a/c arriving from the NE segment will be cleared for the approach by
ATC. I'm not familiar with exactly what goes on in the BJC area, but I'd
guess that the pilot will either receive vector to final, in which case the
issue of course reversal is moot; or he will receive an altitude to
maintain until crossing ALIKE and will be obliged to execute the course
reversal procedure. Looking at some of the airways in the vicinity, it
seems the MEA/MOCA is higher than 7200'. And one would have to be down to
7200 outside of ALIKE in order to intercept the Glide Slope from below.

The point is that without access to the MVA charts, we don't know what
altitude he will be cleared to. And the whole point of the thread is
that if he is cleared to 7200 or less and approaches ALIKE from a
reasonable direction, the procedure turn is basically a waste of time
but legally he is still required to execute it.

Given that on RADAR vectors we are routinely set up for a 30 degree
intercept right at the FAF, I would think that it's reasonable to have
aircraft approaching at the correct altitude and within 30 degrees of
the FAC skip the procedure turn as a general rule. I have actually
seen approaches which exempt a certain arc from PT requirements - HUM
VOR RWY 12 is one example I've actually
shot.(http://www.myairplane.com/databases/...l/HUM_vr12.pdf)
In my opinion, something like this ought to be a general rule, rather
than a specific. Those who do not feel like they can get established
can always request the course reversal.

Michael