Practice approach question

[Matt32689]

Hi all,

Question..I was enroute to KCMA, VFR... and tried to request a practice RNAV approach from the tower. I was told that I could not do that and that I had to contact approach for that. I thought I remembered in flight training, back in the day, doing this all the time at a nearby towered airport. just curious on what the rule is for this.

Thanks!

[Kyle.Sanders]

CMA is a class D airport and likely are not to provide radar services such as that. Also- every airport is going to have a different letter of agreement. Maybe they have one with Point Magu TRACON that doesn't allow TWR to provide that service. Basically- contact approach for approach services. But if you truly don't know who to call, call anybody and they will tell you who to contact.

[Ryan B]

Yeah you remember partially correct hehe. As Kyle said you'll want to call approach for that service.

I work at a facility that serves a class D - we do many practice approaches.

[Matt32689]

Thanks for the info guys!

[Keith Smith]

It's likely that Socal TRACON has an LOA which states that they'll handle practice approaches and will provide separation during said approaches. Therefore, while it's legal to call a tower and ask for a practice approach (in which case, you might hear, "practice approach approved, no separation services provided"), chances are this part of the world, they'll boot you over to Socal who's going to want some visibility into what you're doing.

If you want to literally fly the ground track for the approach, you could also just fly the approach without any radar services and then contact the tower on a straight-in for the runway prior to the Delta, assuming the approach has you in Class E airspace the whole time.