CE750 captain laments the late descent clearance he received from chicago approach during vectors to...

Narrative:

We were at the conclusion of an IFR flight; being vectored for an ILS runway 23 approach at ugn. The ceiling was reported as 1700 ft and the visibility 9 miles. Approaching waukegan from the north; we were handed off from milwaukee approach control to chicago approach control on a 180 degree heading at 4000 ft in IMC. The chicago approach controller was very busy and there seemed to be a lot of traffic in his sector. Our heading was taking us directly to wauke intersection; the FAF for the ILS approach; so we anticipated a descent to at least 3000 ft or lower shortly after switching to chicago approach. Time passed and the descent clearance was not forthcoming and the controller was issuing almost constant directions to other aircraft. In the right seat; I twice attempted contact to ask for lower but was unsuccessful I'm sure due to the volume of traffic. At approximately one mile from the final approach course the controller at last directed us to descend to 2400 ft and cleared us for the approach; and directed us to switch to the tower frequency. We captured the localizer easily enough but we were well high of the glideslope. The pilot flying (my chief pilot) was able to capture the glideslope with a higher than normal rate of descent. We broke out of the clouds at approximately 3.5 miles from the end of the runway and by then we were comfortably on the glideslope. After landing I commented to the ground controller that we had been 'slam-dunked' by chicago approach; and he responded; 'yeah; we saw you were up there pretty high.' as the trip captain it would have been appropriate for me to intercede with the pilot flying when we realized we were too high so close in. The more conservative course would have been to refuse the approach and ask for further vectors back to the ILS for a more proper entry and capture.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: CE750 Captain laments the late descent clearance he received from Chicago approach during vectors to the ILS 23 at UGN. A higher than normal rate of descent was required to catch the glideslope and the flying pilot was the reporter's chief pilot.

Narrative: We were at the conclusion of an IFR flight; being vectored for an ILS Runway 23 approach at UGN. The ceiling was reported as 1700 FT and the visibility 9 miles. Approaching Waukegan from the north; we were handed off from Milwaukee Approach Control to Chicago Approach Control on a 180 degree heading at 4000 FT IN IMC. The Chicago Approach Controller was very busy and there seemed to be a lot of traffic in his sector. Our heading was taking us directly to WAUKE intersection; the FAF for the ILS approach; so we anticipated a descent to at least 3000 FT or lower shortly after switching to Chicago Approach. Time passed and the descent clearance was not forthcoming and the Controller was issuing almost constant directions to other aircraft. In the right seat; I twice attempted contact to ask for lower but was unsuccessful I'm sure due to the volume of traffic. At approximately one mile from the final approach course the Controller at last directed us to descend to 2400 FT and cleared us for the approach; and directed us to switch to the Tower frequency. We captured the localizer easily enough but we were well high of the glideslope. The pilot flying (my Chief Pilot) was able to capture the glideslope with a higher than normal rate of descent. We broke out of the clouds at approximately 3.5 miles from the end of the runway and by then we were comfortably on the glideslope. After landing I commented to the Ground Controller that we had been 'slam-dunked' by Chicago Approach; and he responded; 'Yeah; we saw you were up there pretty high.' As the Trip Captain it would have been appropriate for me to intercede with the pilot flying when we realized we were too high so close in. The more conservative course would have been to refuse the approach and ask for further vectors back to the ILS for a more proper entry and capture.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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	849953
Time
Date	200908
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	UGN.Airport
State Reference	IL
Environment
Flight Conditions	Marginal
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Citation X (C750)
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Final Approach
Route In Use	Vectors
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Not Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Multiengine
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 60 Flight Crew Total 10200 Flight Crew Type 500
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Inflight Event / Encounter Unstabilized Approach

CE750 captain laments the late descent clearance he received from chicago approach during vectors to the ILS 23 at ugn. A higher than normal rate of descent was required to catch the glideslope and the flying pilot was the reporter's chief pilot.