"Wolfgang K."
just being curious when reading that from over here in austria..
are the faa really that strict and ground you for being at not a cleared
altitude - for whatever reason?

No, but busting a clearance in the busy New York City airspace will draw
attention. TEB underlies NYC Class B and specifically underlies some Newark
approaches. It is very busy, congested airspace.

Otherwise, it seems ATC radar is programmed to generate an alert with a 300
foot bust. I've done a number of those. It seems that it is up to the
controller to decide what to do.

From Mr Freeman's statements, it suggests that he is either relatively
inexperienced either in IFR ops or in ops at busy airports. He talks about
looking at the approach plate and deciding to descend to the altitude for
the approach. I'm guessing that at Teterboro, one would typically be
vectored and stepped down to intercept final. But that's just a guess.