Note to iPad users with georeferenced charts: These discontinuities are not factored in when the airplane symbol appears over them on the chart. It’s 18.5 nm from GODFE to FEVIM, so you’ve got some time to descend. That’s why the wavy line and 18.5 in parenthesis at GODFE are worth noting.

If cleared for that transition, and barring any instruction from ATC otherwise, descent to 8000 is at your discretion. Note that the 8000 is an at-or-above altitude. GODFE and THESE are the simplest: it’s 8000 feet direct to FEVIM, which is a track of 163 and 074, respectively. So long as one of those five fixes are found along your cleared route, they should be available as a transition from the airway system to the approach. The RNAV (GPS) Y Rwy 12 has five: the Livingston VOR (LVM), the Whitehall VOR (HIA), GODFE on V-365, THESE on V343, and RANEY on V-343. Transitions connect a point in the enroute structure with a point on the approach chart.

Two great charts to study are the RNAV (GPS) Y Rwy 12 and ILS or LOC Rwy 12 at Bozeman, MT (KBZN). It’s also an often-overlooked part of the IFR education. However, both of those things can drop away without warning, so it’s worth digging into how you bridge the gap between the enroute environment and the final approach course on your own. Not much when you’re in radar contact and the navigator is working. Follow the controller’s instructions and the GPS flight plan. In a world of vectors and magenta lines, we rarely sweat the details of transition routes for instrument approaches.

Enroute 4 bridges