I agree the regs are rather poorly written.

We agree on =something=!

I'm not familiar with any letters of agreement like that.

I have never seen letters of agreement. I do know that letters of
agreement exist which allow me to perform some operations which would
normally be expected to require communication with one facility by
communicating with a different one. Not having seen any of these
letters of agreement, I don't really know which operations are covered,
and when, and under what circumstances. I know this because I have
requested that one controller coordinate my transit through another's
airspace, and been granted that request. (Yes, I am trusting that the
controller is operating properly in doing so).

Now the question really becomes =which= services are elegible for
letters of agreement, and which are not. It appears to be your
contention (with which I agree) that landing at a Class D airport (sorry
- "a towered airport within class D airspace" is a service or
operation which is not elegible for a letter of agreement that would
allow a different facility to provide those services.

However, nothing in part 91 or 61 with which I am familiar makes that
distinction. In fact, I've yet to find anything in part 91 or 61 that
even mentions letters of agreement.

If I am approaching a Class D airport and the approach controller gives
me an actual landing clearance instead of "contact the tower...", maybe
the controller made an error. But maybe there is some sort of letter of
agreement that I don't know about. I'd ask, if I could get a word in
edgewise. But as a practical matter, if the field really is IFR, I'm
the only one that should be there anyway, and I'd have no reason to
assume that the clearance is invalid.

Jose
--
He who laughs, lasts.
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