Since a contact approach requires the airport to have an IFR approach,
I fail to see the advantage of a contact approach. If visibility is at
1 mile, I think I would rather just fly the approach than pick around
for the airport in those conditions - too risky. Where is the
advantage? Following other traffic visually?

--Dan


wrote:
Newps wrote:
So you're saying that the controllers are the weather observers there?
That would put it in a gray area. The book states that weather must be
available. If you received the clearance before the tower closed that
would be OK.

Yes the controllers are the weather observers. Why does that make it a
gray area?

I'm pretty sure the clearance came after the tower closed. I've also
noticed that the approach controllers occasionally loose track of time
and they don't always realize the tower has closed. Maybe that's what
happened. Or the controller wasn't fresh on contact approaches, since
I think its used relatively rarely around here. By the way, this is a
small satellite airport under Class B and C airspace, if that makes a
difference.