Narrative:

We requested direct vikes for the ILS DME 34L approach and we were given a clearance of direct vikes direct; descend and maintain 10000 feet. About 10 miles from vikes (we were approaching from the northeast) VFR traffic popped up about 5 miles southwest of vikes; climbing to 10500; east bound. ATC told us to level at 12000 feet for traffic. The cloud layer was scattered to broken with bases at around 9300 feet. We leveled at 12000 feet and made a right turn at vikes; following the transition route. ATC then seemed confused and asked if we were turning toward the airport and before my first officer could respond; ATC gave us a left turn vector heading 160 and a descent to 9100 feet. We were now within a mile of the final approach course flying south; too close to make a right turn back to final. So ATC said turn left heading 140; I need to widen you out for the approach. We turned to heading 140 and now we were clearly below all the clouds and could see all the terrain. He then told us to turn to heading 010 which would have turned us directly into the higher terrain. I got on the radio and declined his clearance with 'unable; we have the airport in sight'. He then said something about giving us a different altitude; and seemed confused. I responded with 'airport in sight'. At that point he cleared us for the visual. My first officer was concerned about the terrain to the right; so we slowed and put flaps to 5 degrees. During the turn back to final; I saw the airspeed slow to 154 kts at which point I sped up to 185kts. We completed the turn and intercepted the localizer from the east side and tracked it in to the airport.[caused by] unclear or poor ATC instructions; VFR aircraft; ATC expectations vs pilot expectations different.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier flight crew reported they were uncomfortable with ATC issued headings relative to their proximity to terrain on approach to RNO.

Narrative: We requested direct VIKES for the ILS DME 34L approach and we were given a clearance of Direct VIKES Direct; descend and maintain 10000 feet. About 10 miles from VIKES (we were approaching from the Northeast) VFR traffic popped up about 5 miles southwest of VIKES; climbing to 10500; east bound. ATC told us to level at 12000 feet for traffic. The cloud layer was scattered to broken with bases at around 9300 feet. We leveled at 12000 feet and made a right turn at VIKES; following the transition route. ATC then seemed confused and asked if we were turning toward the airport and before my FO could respond; ATC gave us a left turn vector HDG 160 and a descent to 9100 feet. We were now within a mile of the final approach course flying south; too close to make a right turn back to final. So ATC said turn left heading 140; I need to widen you out for the approach. We turned to HDG 140 and now we were clearly below all the clouds and could see all the terrain. He then told us to turn to HDG 010 which would have turned us directly into the higher terrain. I got on the radio and declined his clearance with 'Unable; we have the airport in sight'. He then said something about giving us a different altitude; and seemed confused. I responded with 'Airport in sight'. At that point he cleared us for the visual. My FO was concerned about the terrain to the right; so we slowed and put flaps to 5 degrees. During the turn back to final; I saw the airspeed slow to 154 kts at which point I sped up to 185kts. We completed the turn and intercepted the localizer from the east side and tracked it in to the airport.[Caused by] unclear or Poor ATC instructions; VFR aircraft; ATC expectations vs Pilot expectations different.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.