Air carrier on a visual approach to mhv was restricted by ATC at an altitude that required a go arou...

Narrative:

Approach cleared air carrier X to 9;000 ft. At seven mile ATC tells air carrier X report the visual approach. Air carrier X contacted CTAF unicom frequency. Transmitting our position from the field. Unicom replied with field conditions. Air carrier X then switched back to approach control requesting lower. ATC then cleared air carrier X to 7;000 ft. At five miles we keyed up the lights. I requested lower; approach control said unable due to protected air space. What protected airspace? I reported the field in sight expecting to hear cleared for the visual approach. Due to our close proximity and 7;000 ft altitude and mountains we continued to the field joining the glide path. I wanted to stay in my protected airspace as the approach control was busy with another aircraft. On our visual descent; and after calling the field; approach control asked our altitude. I replied we have the field descending on glide path. Approach control replied 'maintain your altitude!' we leveled around 4;800 ft. He again said he couldn't clear us below 7;000 ft. Air carrier X requested approach to tell us when clear of said airspace. Approach replied one mile. So we're now 4;800 ft one mile from the end of the runway. Air carrier X was in no position the do a stabilized approach so we executed a missed approach. Being so confused by approach's inability to communicate he needed us to cancel our IFR clearance in order for us to descend; we canceled our IFR clearance and did a circle to land to runway 30 at mhv.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air Carrier on a Visual Approach to MHV was restricted by ATC at an altitude that required a go around. The restriction to clear other unknown airspace.

Narrative: Approach cleared Air Carrier X to 9;000 FT. At seven mile ATC tells Air Carrier X report the visual approach. Air Carrier X contacted CTAF Unicom frequency. Transmitting our position from the field. Unicom replied with field conditions. Air Carrier X then switched back to Approach Control requesting lower. ATC then cleared Air Carrier X to 7;000 FT. At five miles we keyed up the lights. I requested lower; Approach Control said unable due to protected air space. What protected Airspace? I reported the field in sight expecting to hear cleared for the visual approach. Due to our close proximity and 7;000 FT altitude and mountains we continued to the field joining the glide path. I wanted to stay in my protected airspace as the Approach Control was busy with another aircraft. On our visual descent; and after calling the field; Approach Control asked our altitude. I replied we have the field descending on glide path. Approach Control replied 'maintain your altitude!' We leveled around 4;800 FT. He again said he couldn't clear us below 7;000 FT. Air Carrier X requested Approach to tell us when clear of said airspace. Approach replied one mile. So we're now 4;800 FT one mile from the end of the runway. Air Carrier X was in no position the do a stabilized approach so we executed a missed approach. Being so confused by Approach's inability to communicate he needed us to cancel our IFR clearance in order for us to descend; we canceled our IFR clearance and did a circle to land to Runway 30 at MHV.

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.

Attributes
ACN	1056798
Time
Date	201212
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	MHV.Airport
State Reference	CA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Commercial Fixed Wing
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Final Approach
Route In Use	Direct Visual Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 140 Flight Crew Total 13000 Flight Crew Type 9000
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types

Air carrier on a visual approach to mhv was restricted by ATC at an altitude that required a go around. The restriction to clear other unknown airspace.