South Lake Tahoe Class D

[Ray]

I'm (hopefully) taking my first trip to South Lake Tahoe on Sunday as part
of a mountain flying checkout with my club. I noticed that the control
tower is no longer active - but the AF/D (and sectional) still has the Class
D active during normal hours. I know it doesn't really matter from a
practical standpoint - but strictly speaking, isn't landing at TVL without
establishing 2 way radio communications against regulations?

The AF/D remarks also refer to the tower in a couple spots "Tfc advisories
and sequencing in the tfc pattern are based on position reports...Radio
contact with twr may be affected by terrain." Any reason these lines
haven't been removed yet?

- Ray

[Robert M. Gary]

Its class E now. Same freq. Be aware of strong up and down drafts
around the airport. Its not unusual for my Mooney to get tossed around
something strong on the base leg near the lake.

[John Harper]

Robert M. Gary wrote:
> Its class E now. Same freq. Be aware of strong up and down drafts
> around the airport. Its not unusual for my Mooney to get tossed around
> something strong on the base leg near the lake.
>

No, NOT the same freq. For some reason known only
to the FAA, when they closed the tower they changed
the CTAF freq. According to the FBO, it's causing
lots of problems. I guess a prudent pilot could
keep com #2 tuned to the old freq, if the prudent
pilot in question had a good enough memory (since the
old freq isn't published anywhere any more).

John