ILS critical area

[stupidpilot]

Stupidpilot:

How do you know when someone is on the ILS if you cant see him and your on ground/tower freq?

If conditions are below 800 & 2 hold short until tower tells you to take the runway. At uncontrolled fields you'd better be monitoring ctaf/unicom. Also, if wx is that low you cannot takeoff SVFR or get your clearance in the air. So ATC will not release you until the aircraft on approach has cancelled IFR. I have held short of the ils critical area when I haven't been instructed to and the ground controller has thanked me because he forgot to tell me. So if the weather dictates it I hold short of that point as a precautionary measure. If they want you to pull up to the normal hold line they will tell you.

 

[JCJ]

I usually just hold short of the ILS critical line, if there is one (unless it's obviously good VFR) - it's not very far from the regular hold short line, and it's never an issue. The only time I could see it being an issue is if there's a bunch of guys in line on the taxiway waiting to depart - and that's usually only on a nice VFR day when it's not an issue anyway.