Originally Posted by
1wife2airlines
Why did the crew descend mindlessly to 7800' approximately 40 miles, by way of planned course, away from the airport? I think the international situation has changed but an ATC clearance would be given to a final altitude that would require you to still comply with enroute or terminal altitude restrictions. Even in the old days some "drivers" who had gotten by being hand hold by ATC in the US got some rude awakenings elseware.
Yes, mindless on their part. But many, many other US domestic pilots would have fallen for that, very common to get vectored below published step-down altitudes in the US. Getting vectored or cleared below published altitudes would not have automatically raised eyebrows. You would have to look at the actual terrain in that case.