WHILE FLYING VOR-A APCH TO SMO; FLT CREW OF BE40 MISINTERP PROCEDURAL NOTE REGARDING CULVE FIX AND DSND DIRECTLY TO MDA AFTER PASSING BEVEY.

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OVERSIGHT ON FULL PROCEDURAL NOTE RELEVANT TO A STEP-DOWN FIX/ALT ON VOR APCH TO SMO; LED TO AN ALTDEV. CREW COORD WAS INTACT DURING THIS SHORT LEG AND VOR-A APCH WAS BRIEFED EARLY ON DSCNT FROM ALT. I; AS PNF; THOUGH ONLY SILENTLY; NOTED THE PROCEDURAL NOTE FOR THE STEP-DOWN FIX ALT AT 'CULVE' (2.4 DME FROM SMO VOR); INSIDE THE 'BEVEY' FAF. IT READS; 'WHEN TWR INOP; DME REQUIRED.' THIS PERTAINING TO THE 'CULVE' STEP-DOWN FIX. I CAUGHT ONLY THE FIRST PART OF THE PROCEDURAL NOTE REGARDING 'WHEN TWR INOP' -- INTERNALIZED THIS AS NOTE IRRELEVANT AS TWR WAS OPERATIVE; SO 'CULVE' WAS NOT APPLICABLE TO OUR APCH CRITERIA. MY OVERSIGHT; AND OVERSIGHT AS CREW; LET US TO SIT WHERE WE WERE ALREADY AT MDA AT 'CULVE' (2.4 DME) WHEN WE SHOULD HAVE BEEN AT HIGHER STEP-DOWN ALT. FLT CONDITIONS WERE MVFR. SMO TWR COMMENTED THAT WE WERE LOW. AT THE TIME; THIS MADE NO SENSE TO US. UPON LNDG; I PHONED SMO TWR FOR AN EXPLANATION AND ON FURTHER REVIEW LEARNED THAT WE HAD ERRED BY NOT CATCHING THE FULL PROCEDURAL NOTE FOR THIS APCH. CONTRIBUTING FACTORS: THIS WAS A SHORT LEG WITH A DEP PROC (SID) OUTBOUND AND ARR INBOUND AND MULTIPLE HDG AND ALT CHANGES FROM SOCAL PRIOR TO APCH. THE APCH WAS BRIEFED EARLY; BUT COCKPIT WAS BUSY DURING THIS LEG WHICH LED TO OVERSIGHT OF THE STEP-DOWN FIX WHICH WAS PERCEIVED BY US TO BE NON APPLICABLE. WE; AS CREW; LEARNED FROM THIS AND WILL BE MUCH MORE ATTENTIVE TO PROCEDURAL NOTES IN THE FUTURE. SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 606016: ON THE APCH PLATE; THERE ARE 2 DIFFERENT MDA'S NOTED. ONE IS THE MDA COLUMN THAT STATES 'WITH CULVE.' THE OTHER STATES 'WITHOUT CULVE.' WE KNOW THAT WE COULD IDENT CULVE AS THE 2.4 DME FROM SMO VOR. THIS IS THE ONLY WAY TO IDENT CULVE AND THE PROCEDURAL NOTE AND THE 2 DIFFERENT MDA'S CAN BE CONFUSING TO PLTS REVIEWING THIS CHART.