In article om,
"hsm" wrote:

Can I descent below minimums on an intermediate stepdown segment of an
IFR approach if I have the runway enviroment in sight?
On a very steep approach such as the backcourse loc-A to Santa
Maria,CA, I would like to start descending below 1700 feet prior to
reaching PATER, in order to facilitate a more comfortable decent in
VMC. Legal or do I first need a visual approach clearance?

I've read the other responses to this, and I'm going to chime in with a
weasel answer:

1) I'm not really sure if it's technically legal or not.

2) Unless you crashed, nobody would ever notice or care

3) The stepdown is there for a reason -- to keep you off the hills under
the approach path. When deciding whether to descend, I'd be more
worried about whether you had the hills in sight than if you had the
runway in sight. For example, at night, the runway might be lit up like
a christmas tree, but the hills might be invisible.

4) It's a 6000 foot runway; what looks like a steep approach to the
threshold isn't quite so steep an approach to the middle of the runway,
and you'd still have 3000 feet left (twice what you need in any spam
can).