So how do you establish 2 way communication with a control tower that doesn't exist?
You read the A/FD and contact PDX tower on the frequency listed.
Well, yes and no.
VUO's Class D is in a cutout of Portland International's Class C surface area.
Before departure or before entering the Class D on arrival, pilots are required to establish communication with "Pearson Advisory," a position physically located in the Portland Tower but operating on the Pearson CTAF. The purpose of the contact is for ATC to issue wake turbulence advisories, and (on a workload-permitting basis) traffic advisories. It also serves as Pearson's IFR Clearance Delivery and coordinates Class C transitions, but it does not control or sequence VFR traffic at Pearson. VUO is still an uncontrolled airport.
The communication goes like this:
N123: Pearson Advisory, Bugsmasher 123 inbound to Pearson from Vancouver Lake, we have the Pearson weather [from the ASOS]."
P.A.: Bugsmasher 123, Pearson Advisory. Remain clear of the Portland Class Charlie airspace. Portland arrivals from the west, caution wake turbulence. Traffic is an Airbus four miles west of Pearson, inbound to Portland. One other aircraft reported in the pattern at Pearson.
From that point on, the pilot just self-announces on the same frequency and sequences himself, just like at any other uncontrolled field, and ATC is not involved.
In addition to the wake turbulence issue, the traffic advisories are welcome, because we try to avoid situations where we might trigger an RA on an airliner's TCAS, which can happen even if we're completely in our airspace, and they in theirs.
A couple of years ago runway work at PDX put more jet traffic over VUO, so FAA commissioned a temporary tower at Pearson for a year. We liked it; the controllers liked it (no state income tax in WA
). We asked FAA to keep the tower, but they said no funding, and it reverted to the "Pearson Advisory" system.
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