airfields with a tower that doesn't control pilots?

Last week I was in Greenland, at Narsarsuaq, formerly the USAAF and
USAF airfield Bluie West One.

It's a fabulous place, but one aspect of the Narsarsuaq airfield
really astonished me. There is a tower, six days a week during normal
daylight hours, but the tower only gives advice; the pilot is always
in control, and makes his own decisions.

Is this very unusual?



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"Cub Driver" wrote in message
...
snipped...
There is a tower, six days a week during normal
daylight hours, but the tower only gives advice; the pilot is always
in control, and makes his own decisions.

Isn't the pilot always in control and have final authority at all towered
airports?

"Brad Zeigler" wrote in message
...

Isn't the pilot always in control and have final authority at all towered
airports?

That wouldn't work very well. You could have a pilot using his final
authority to land on runway 18 while another pilot is using his final
authority to land on runway 36.

"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote in message
ink.net...

"Brad Zeigler" wrote in message
...

Isn't the pilot always in control and have final authority at all towered
airports?

That wouldn't work very well. You could have a pilot using his final
authority to land on runway 18 while another pilot is using his final
authority to land on runway 36.

Have you never flown into a non-towered airport?

Cub Driver wrote:
Last week I was in Greenland, at Narsarsuaq, formerly the USAAF and
USAF airfield Bluie West One.

It's a fabulous place, but one aspect of the Narsarsuaq airfield
really astonished me. There is a tower, six days a week during normal
daylight hours, but the tower only gives advice; the pilot is always
in control, and makes his own decisions.

Is this very unusual?


It seems that you have met AFIS - Aerodrome Flight Information
Service. The guy in the tower is not a qualified ATC controller,
but he's able to provide the minimum information needed for
night or IFR operations.

AFAIK, AFIS is in use on smaller European airports.

--

Tauno Voipio (Piper Turbo Arrow IV at EFHF)
tauno voipio (at) iki fi

"Brad Zeigler" wrote in message
...

Have you never flown into a non-towered airport?

Many times. Why?

Tauno Voipio wrote:

AFAIK, AFIS is in use on smaller European airports.

Pretty common here. What looks like a tower isn't a "tower" in the
technical sense. Look at the chart: You most probably won't find a
"tower" frequency but rather an "info" or "AFIS" frequency.

Stefan

In a previous article, said:
Last week I was in Greenland, at Narsarsuaq, formerly the USAAF and
USAF airfield Bluie West One.

It's a fabulous place, but one aspect of the Narsarsuaq airfield
really astonished me. There is a tower, six days a week during normal
daylight hours, but the tower only gives advice; the pilot is always
in control, and makes his own decisions.

Is this very unusual?

Several Canadian airports I've been at have a FSS on the field. Their
facility looks like a tower cab, but not up on a tower, and they are the
ones you talk to (you say "St. Catherines Radio" instead of "St.
Catherines Traffic" or they get upset with you), but they tell you the
wind an altimeter settings, tell you if anybody else is in the pattern,
but they don't clear you for anything.

--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
To ensure privacy and data integrity this message has been encrypted
using dual rounds of ROT-13 encryption.

Used to have similar FSS stations at many airports here in the US. I
remeber one day approaching an airport from a ways out and having the
FSS give me a blow-by-blow (excuse the pun) account as a thunderstorm
approached the airport from the other direction. Not a controller, but
very helpful. I lost the race and landed elsewhere.
--
Gene Seibel
Tales of Flight - http://pad39a.com/gene/tales.html
Because I fly, I envy no one.

Paul Tomblin wrote:
Several Canadian airports I've been at have a FSS on the field. Their
facility looks like a tower cab, but not up on a tower, and they are the
ones you talk to (you say "St. Catherines Radio" instead of "St.
Catherines Traffic" or they get upset with you), but they tell you the
wind an altimeter settings, tell you if anybody else is in the pattern,
but they don't clear you for anything.

I was thinking that originally, but then another poster reminded me that
Denmark owns Greenland, hence the European comparison.