"Matt Whiting" wrote in message
...

A question for Stephen, Newps or other folks knowledgeable in the finer
points of ATC. A friend of mine flew into Reading, PA last week with
another pilot. Since Reading is a class D airport with no TRSA, but with
radar approach control, they elected to simply call tower directly 6 or so
miles out. My friend said that the controller was quite nasty and told
them they had to contact approach first if they wanted to land. By then
they were even closer in, but they called approach who "informed" them
gruffly that they were now 4 miles from the airport and needed to contact
tower "immediately." They then called tower and landed.

My friend is a new private pilot (last December) and both he and the
person flying (a pretty experienced pilot, I believe) were rather taken
aback by this. What authority does a class D tower have to refuse entry
to an airplane that hasn't called approach control? Even a TRSA is
voluntary, so I can't imagine that a non-TRSA, non-class B, non-class C
airport can mandate use of approach control.

Is there some new regulation that I've missed?

Matt

Although I have never been to Reading, I have read enough posts in
newsgroups to realize that it is a special case...poor relations between
pilots and ATC. I would write up the experience on an ASRS report.

Bob Gardner