Narrative:

We may have descended thru floor of class B airspace on a visual approach to san; the primary airport.prior practice of ATC included a restriction to cross the 084 radial of mzb at or above 5;000 when issued the visual approach to runway 27. In the past; this was issued to preclude descent thru the floor of class B airspace when given the visual approach. ATC no longer issues this restriction even though the legal requirement to not descend below class B airspace on a visual approach remains in effect. Although expecting ATC to issue this restriction (which they no longer do) and then not being issued it; I assumed I had already crossed the 084 radial. Given prior practices of ATC at san; there is the strong possibility of future problems. This is a safety issue due to transiting VFR aircraft directly below the floor of the class B. Therefore; ATC needs to reinstate the prior practice of issuing the restriction to flight crew to cross the 084 radial of mzb at or above 5;000 ft when issued the visual approach to runway 27 at san. This is simply in the interests of safety to preclude inadvertent descent below class B. A note in the arrivals section of the airport information page to alert crew would be appropriate; including a note to build the mzb 084 radial on the fix page for situational awareness re class B. Also; an arrivals note reminding crews of the restriction of descent below class B airspace to a primary airport on a visual approach. Or a class B overlay on the map on the nd in the future; perhaps.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B757 flight crew was surprised when not given an expected crossing restriction to avoid descending below the Class B at SAN when cleared for a visual approach to Runway 27. They believe they may have; in fact; descended below thinking they had not received the restriction because they were beyond it.

Narrative: We may have descended thru floor of Class B airspace on a visual approach to SAN; the primary airport.Prior practice of ATC included a restriction to cross the 084 radial of MZB at or above 5;000 when issued the visual approach to Runway 27. In the past; this was issued to preclude descent thru the floor of Class B airspace when given the visual approach. ATC no longer issues this restriction even though the legal requirement to not descend below Class B airspace on a visual approach remains in effect. Although expecting ATC to issue this restriction (which they no longer do) and then not being issued it; I assumed I had already crossed the 084 radial. Given prior practices of ATC at SAN; there is the strong possibility of future problems. This is a safety issue due to transiting VFR aircraft directly below the floor of the Class B. Therefore; ATC needs to reinstate the prior practice of issuing the restriction to flight crew to cross the 084 radial of MZB at or above 5;000 FT when issued the visual approach to Runway 27 at SAN. This is simply in the interests of safety to preclude inadvertent descent below Class B. A note in the arrivals section of the airport information page to alert crew would be appropriate; including a note to build the MZB 084 radial on the fix page for situational awareness re Class B. Also; an arrivals note reminding crews of the restriction of descent below Class B airspace to a primary airport on a visual approach. Or a Class B overlay on the map on the ND in the future; perhaps.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.