Cleared to ILS. Allowed to descend on my own?

I was flying to LEPA and during descent to 5000ft cleared altitude I was thereafter cleared to the final ILS procedure (ILS Z RWY 06L) with no further descent made explicit by the Controller. So by waiting at 5000ft a bit too much I found myself to be too high on short final and had to GA. Was I allowed to descend on my own according to the approach plate after the ILS clearance? Thanks.

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Hello Cristiano,
If the controller gives you the “clear for the ils” it means that he confirms the possibility of intercepting the radial/course to follow the ils and therefore follow the descent, glideslope (the ils procedure) etc etc and then he will tell you “clear to land” when actually he will deem it right to give it to you and that will allow you to land on your chosen runway.

During an ILS approach, you will follow a predetermined glide slope and localizer path that guide you to the runway. The descent profile will usually be indicated on the approach chart or in the published procedure, indicating the altitudes at specific distances or waypoints along the approach path.

Maybe I was a bit vague or generalized if you want me to explain it more precisely let me know :slight_smile:

Hope to have help you, good day :slight_smile:
Alex

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Yes, you are allowed to follow the lateral and vertical part of the procedure when you have been cleared for a certain type of approach. If ATC does not want you to descend according to the published procedure, but intercept the glideslope at your last cleared altitude, he will tell you something like “maintain xxxx ft until intercepting the glideslope”, or, in the UK they will tell you “when established on the localizer, descend with the glideslope”. This also means that you are supposed to stay at your last cleared altitude until reaching the glideslope.

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Thanks guys for you kind replies!

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did you activate the ils… if so it should of found glide slope around 15 dme on average for 5000ft and 3000ft is around 10 dme to intercept glide slope…