GA SMA UNAUTH LNDG AT ASH. TRAINEE WAS USING CTAF AS ADVERTISED IN ARPT FAC DIRECTORY; BUT ASH TWR WAS ACTIVE AT THE TIME.

1988-08 · NASA ASRS report 92392

Date: 1988-08 · Aircraft: Small Aircraft; Low Wing; 1 Eng; Retractable Gear

Anomalies: deviation-discrepancy-procedural-far|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-landing-without-clearance

Synopsis

GA SMA UNAUTH LNDG AT ASH. TRAINEE WAS USING CTAF AS ADVERTISED IN ARPT FAC DIRECTORY; BUT ASH TWR WAS ACTIVE AT THE TIME.

Narrative

DUAL INSTRUCTION FLT FOR MY COMMERCIAL LICENSE. AS USUAL; LISTENED TO TWEB ON RADIO AT HOME (LQ NDB) AND CALLED PATWAS (BDR 800 #) FOR LCL WX FOR TRNING FLTS IN LCL AREA. (TRY TO AVOID USING AFSS FOR LCL VFR FLT DUE TO PROBS GETTING THROUGH; GETTING CUT OFF; ETC.) INSTR PLT SUGGESTED DOING SOME LNDGS AT NASHUA. FLEW DIRECT TO THE ARPT. USED BOSTON TCA CHART (AS ALL ARPT INFO HAS BEEN DELETED FROM SECTIONAL) FOR NAV INFO AND CHKED A/FD (6/XX-8/XX/88) FOR ANY CHANGES AT ARPT. NON FOUND. ANNOUNCED ON CTAF/UNICOM 122.7; ASKED FOR ACTIVE RWY; NO RESPONSE. PROCEEDED TO PERFORM APPROX 6 TOUCH AND GOES. FULLY ANNOUNCED ACTIVITIES ON 122.7. NOTICED SEVERAL ACFT TAKING OFF; LNDG; HOLDING AT RUN UP AREA; ETC; BUT HEARD NONE OF THEM ON FREQ. I COMMENTED ON THIS BEING ODD TO THE INSTR PLT. CHKED FREQ AGAIN IN A/FD--STILL 122.7. EVENTUALLY DEPARTED PATTERN S OF MORE AIRWORK. THOUGHT NOTHING MORE OF THIS FOR A FEW DAYS UNTIL LEAFING THROUGH A COPY OF 'ATLANTIC FLYER' NEWSPAPER AT ARPT COFFEE SHOP AND READ: 'FEDS MAN NASHUA TWR.' CHKED CHARTS AND A/FD AGAIN--NOTHING. CHKED COMMERCIAL CHART NOTAMS (7/FRI/88)--NOTHING. CALLED BDR FSS FOR NOTAMS ON 8/FRI/88--NONE. BDR FSS SUGGESTED I TRY BANGOR FSS FOR LCL NOTAMS. THEY HAD NO NOTAMS ON NASHUA EITHER. WHEN PRESSED THOSE FOLKS ALLOWED AS TO HOW THE TWR INFO WAS DROPPED WHEN IT WAS PRINTED AS AN AIM SUPPLEMENT (LOOSE-LEAF). I SUGGESTED STRONGLY IT BE REINSTATED UNTIL THE A/FD IS UPDATED AT THE LEAST. SO; I'VE PERFORMED VARIOUS MANEUVERS IN AN ATA W/O AUTHORIZATION. I THOUGHT I WAS DILIGENT IN MY PREFLT PREPARATION; BUT I GOT CAUGHT. TO ME; A CHANGE IN AIRSPACE OF THIS MAGNITUDE SHOULD BE TRULY PUBLICIZED; EG; LETTERS TO LCL PLTS; NEARBY ARPTS ATIS PATWAS; TWEB; A/FD NOTE OF IMPENDING TWR ACTIVATION; NEW TWR LISTING ON CTAF. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING: NEITHER BDR NOR BGR WOULD ADVISE THE RPTR THAT ASH HAD AN ATC TWR FAC IN OPERATION UNTIL HE ASKED SPECIFICALLY ABOUT TWR ACTIVITY. THE RPTR MADE SEVERAL CALLS AFTER HIS INCIDENT; BUT BEFORE THE ARPT/FAC DIRECTORY WAS UPDATED. THE FAA HAS NOT CONTACTED THE RPTR. RPTR SAID THE TWR HAS BEEN CONTRACTED OUT BY THE FAA; BUT HE DOES NOT KNOW WHO HAS THE CONTRACT.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.

Loading the flight search…

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.

Where does the route data come from?

Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.