Cleared for an approach, then given a different altitude assignment

Steven P. McNicoll ) wrote:

A little more information would be helpful. From your description it
appears you were enroute to ELESE from PAGER, is that correct? Do you know
if the VFR aircraft was also inbound to SYR?

Here's the chart, Steven:

http://204.108.4.16/d-tpp/0412/00411RY15.PDF

I was actually 5 miles east of PAGER, heading west towards that
waypoint. The other VFR aircraft was southbound direct to SYR airport
and crossing at 500 feet below us.

In hindsight and with the help of the more respectable answers
previously, I see now that there really was no reason for me to get
concerned about the altitude restriction, especially given the fact that
I still had 13 more minutes there. Make no mistake that I had no
problem adhering to the instruction, but I was simply curious about the
wording in which it was given.

As I stated previously, I had grown accustomed to hearing "Cancel
Approach Clearance" and mistakenly assumed that a controller should
issue that phrase if s/he needed to issue an amendment to an approach
clearance.

--
Peter