"Jose" wrote in message
. ..

I don't know why he can't clear you now. Perhaps there's a departure,

There may very well be, but they don't point the departures at the arrivals.



a traffic conflict,


That would mean he let somebody cross the FAC just outside the LOM. Why did
he do that?



a handoff issue,


There's nobody to handoff to, only one approach controller between the
Center and the tower.



a staffing shortage,


How can that be? Again, there's only one approach controller between the
Center and the tower and he's already working me.



or the controller's pencil rolled behind the console.


Why does he need a pencil to speak the clearance?



Whatever it is, it's not something I'd be questioning him about on the
radio.


I'm not questioning him, I'm questioning you. It's your scenario.



And despite the relative calmness at GRB, there are places where one can't
get a word in edgewise. I fly in the Northeast, and it is not at all
uncommon, especially at a handoff.


Yeah, but we're not in the northeast, we're at GRB.



Suppose, for whatever reason, the controller does not respond when you
tell him "we either start down now or we'll need vectors for another shot
at it". For example, the airplane behind you has a misunderstanding and
goes the wrong way, and needs to be coddled back into place, and a third
aircraft comes into the picture. It's well and good that you can change
the scenario on Usenet, but you can't change it in the air. It is
whatever it is.


You don't work a stream of traffic from the rear forward, you have to take
care of the guys in front first. If you screw something up in front it's
transmitted and magnified throughout the string.



In any case, I would conclude (synthesize) from what you have said so far,
that in this case, when you are given the approach clearance at five
thousand feet, five miles from DEPRE, you would refuse the clearance and
request vectors (or perhaps a hold at DEPRE to lose altitude).

But, upon lost com (which could be a problem with ground transmitters, as
well as a hardware issue with the volume control or PTT, I expect you'd
want to get down most expiditiously. (you've been cleared for the
approach)

What I would do is probably enter a descending hold at DEPRE and proceed
inbound from there. One turn ought to get me down to approach altitude. I
suspect you'd do something similar.

Am I right?


No. There's traffic following me. I'm not turning around.