"Cub Driver" wrote in message
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?

Unicom. Just a guy giving friendly advice.

There are some private airports which have towers that can give or deny
permission to land at the pilot's discretion. Downsview airport in Toronto
(Bombardier facility and military base) has a tower (in the physical sense)
with an operator that replies "cleared to land at your discretion" if you're
welcome. But it isn't a clearance in the ATC sense of the word.

moo