Narrative:

ATC instructed us to taxi out to runway 17R via P; west; and bw. We were never instructed to hold at the CAT ii/III hold line. ILS CAT I arrivals were being conducted opposite direction to runway 35L. Shortly before reaching the runway 17R hold short point on taxiway bw; ATC queried us as to why we had not held short at the CAT ii/III hold line. We advised them that we had not been instructed to do so. There is a raised and lit sign alongside the 17R CAT ii/III hold point that states '17R CAT ii/III.' we could find no reference on the taxi chart or elsewhere of a specifically marked CAT I hold point for runway 17R other than the 17R hold short point on taxiway bw (though there is one for runway 35L; it is co-located with the 35L CAT ii/III hold point; see HS4). Neither could we find any reference to the 17R CAT ii/III hold point being the normal hold short point for that runway in VFR/CAT I conditions. This was my (the captain) first flight out of milan. We could have clarified the hold short point with ATC; but we had no idea there was any need to do so. If ATC wanted us to hold at the CAT ii/III hold point; they should not have included taxiway bw in our taxi instructions since the 17R CAT ii/III hold point is on taxiway west some distance before reaching bw. If this is an expectation or common clearance given by milan ground control then there should be some sort of notation made available to the flight crew in the charts or at least in the international flight planning notes.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air Carrier flight crew reports being instructed to taxi to Runway 17R at LIMC via P; W; and BW. Approaching the 17R hold bars the crew is asked by Ground Control why they had not stopped at the Cat II/III hold bars.

Narrative: ATC instructed us to taxi out to Runway 17R via P; W; and BW. We were never instructed to hold at the CAT II/III hold line. ILS CAT I arrivals were being conducted opposite direction to Runway 35L. Shortly before reaching the Runway 17R hold short point on Taxiway BW; ATC queried us as to why we had not held short at the CAT II/III hold line. We advised them that we had not been instructed to do so. There is a raised and lit sign alongside the 17R CAT II/III hold point that states '17R CAT II/III.' We could find no reference on the taxi chart or elsewhere of a specifically marked CAT I hold point for Runway 17R other than the 17R hold short point on Taxiway BW (though there is one for Runway 35L; it is co-located with the 35L CAT II/III hold point; see HS4). Neither could we find any reference to the 17R CAT II/III hold point being the normal hold short point for that runway in VFR/CAT I conditions. This was my (the Captain) first flight out of Milan. We could have clarified the hold short point with ATC; but we had no idea there was any need to do so. If ATC wanted us to hold at the CAT II/III hold point; they should not have included Taxiway BW in our taxi instructions since the 17R CAT II/III hold point is on Taxiway W some distance before reaching BW. If this is an expectation or common clearance given by Milan ground control then there should be some sort of notation made available to the flight crew in the charts or at least in the international flight planning notes.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.