I've been chewed out by Bay (now Norcal) when told "cross
San Jose at xxx" - there was a solid undercast so I just aimed
for the VOR. At some point he said "I told you cross San Jose
at xxx" and gave me a vector which was in fact mid-field. This
was the same controller who a few minutes earlier had given
me a vector which would take me straight into the side of a
mountain in a small number of minutes (it was fortunately VMC above
the overcast), one of two times I've said "unable".

Otoh when cleared "direct Palo Alto" there's little ambiguity.

I guess I would always assume the navaid unless there was some
good reason not to, reading it back (now!) as "96S, direct Sacramento
VOR" for example.

John

"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote in message
ink.net...

"K. Ari Krupnikov" wrote in message
...

I guess I was trying to ask a more general question. Forget the
context. If you are cleared direct to your destination, what point are
you cleared to?


The airport. While it looks like a very large "point" when you're
standing
on it, it appears as a much smaller "point" on a radar scope. It's not
going to make a bit of difference while you're enroute if you're aimed at
the ARP, one of the runway thresholds, an on-field navaid, etc., etc.,
etc.