"Mitty" wrote in message
...

Direct KCKC.


Direct KCKC from where?



And she was going to lose me, probably at 5000. Both comm
and radar.


That may be, but it is only the loss of communications that is reason to
issue the clearance and have you over to CTAF before it happens.



But it was the altitude assignment that was the question.


It was bad phraseology, and possibly a bad clearance. It's not clear if the
controller meant for the descent to be discretionary or not.