A FAA inspector objected to a ce-680 check airman allowing the pilot flying to descend below the GPS...

Narrative:

I was acting as check airman for a route check. The event occurred on final approach. At 4;000 ft we were asked if we wanted the visual behind another aircraft. We declined when we were unable to acquire the aircraft. I could see the airport behind us but was behind us at a steep angle and [we] were just below the clouds. We were subsequently cleared for the GPS 6R [and told to] 'maintain 3;000 until crossing the IAF.' the intercept vector was at a steep angle causing the autopilot to overshoot final and was setting up for a very large correction. The pilot flying intervened and began to fly the airplane manually. By this time the airport was well insight. Inside of the IAF to FAF the minimum is 2;700 then [a] descent to MDA. I called the runway insight to approach control and was switched to tower. A few miles prior to FAF the pilot flying began a descent for landing and said 'visual.' ultimately we passed the FAF about 400 ft below FAF altitude. I had made note that we had not gotten officially cleared for the visual approach and debriefed the event to standard. The FAA inspector did not agree that this could be dealt with as a debrief item and altitude deviation may need to be further investigated.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A FAA Inspector objected to a CE-680 Check Airman allowing the pilot flying to descend below the GPS approach FAF altitude in VMC conditions because ATC had not yet cleared the flight for a visual approach.

Narrative: I was acting as Check Airman for a route check. The event occurred on final approach. At 4;000 FT we were asked if we wanted the visual behind another aircraft. We declined when we were unable to acquire the aircraft. I could see the airport behind us but was behind us at a steep angle and [we] were just below the clouds. We were subsequently cleared for the GPS 6R [and told to] 'Maintain 3;000 until crossing the IAF.' The intercept vector was at a steep angle causing the autopilot to overshoot final and was setting up for a very large correction. The Pilot Flying intervened and began to fly the airplane manually. By this time the airport was well insight. Inside of the IAF to FAF the minimum is 2;700 then [a] descent to MDA. I called the runway insight to Approach Control and was switched to Tower. A few miles prior to FAF the pilot flying began a descent for landing and said 'Visual.' Ultimately we passed the FAF about 400 FT below FAF altitude. I had made note that we had not gotten officially cleared for the visual approach and debriefed the event to standard. The FAA Inspector did not agree that this could be dealt with as a debrief item and altitude deviation may need to be further investigated.

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	1104065
Time
Date	201307
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Cessna Citation Sovereign (C680)
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain Check Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Altitude Overshoot Deviation - Altitude Crossing Restriction Not Met Deviation - Procedural FAR Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Other / Unknown

A FAA inspector objected to a ce-680 check airman allowing the pilot flying to descend below the GPS approach FAF altitude in VMC conditions because ATC had not yet cleared the flight for a visual approach.