ILS critical area holds

Salinas Runway 31 has an ILS approach. The ILS guides airplanes on an exact path down to the runway. Its signals come from antennas near the runway. Airplanes and vehicles near those antennas can disturb the signals. So the area near the antennas is a critical area. In low weather, ATC keeps airplanes out of it.

Here, low weather means a ceiling below 800 feet, or visibility below 2 miles. Then ATC may say to hold short of the ILS critical area. That hold is not the normal runway hold. Its marking is two solid yellow lines, joined by short lines across them, like a ladder.

A red sign beside it says ILS in white letters. Stop so that no part of the airplane is past the marking. When you leave the area, a yellow ILS boundary sign shows the same marking. Past it, you are clear. The diagram draws an ILS hold as a dashed line, with the label ILS HOLD.

Monterey prints two, near the Runway 10R end. The Chart Supplement lists the ILS for Runway 10R. Long Beach prints two ILS holds too, one on each side of Runway 30, its ILS runway. Oakland prints CAT 2 HOLDING near the Runway 30 end. Category 2 is an ILS approach for even lower weather.

The Salinas diagram prints no ILS hold. If ATC gives you one and you are not sure where it is, ask. In low weather, find the ILS holds on the diagram before you taxi. Next, runway approach area holds.