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CTAF And Tower Hours PE Hours of Operation

Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2015 12:45 pm
by barcman1967
Good Day,

Question from a newbie and I apologize if this has been answered elsewhere.

I am wondering about the use of CTAF during two situations:

1. During PE normal hours of operation, are the tower controllers there all the time regardless of published tower attended times? Or, are published tower operating hours simulated by the PE controllers. That said, if they do not "occupy" the tower outside of operating hours, I assume we use CTAF as published for that tower?

2. Outside of PE operating hours, when logged in, do we treat all airports as if they were non-towered? And if so, do we use the published tower frequency or the published CTAF frequency?

Thanks in advance.

Re: CTAF And Tower Hours PE Hours of Operation

Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2015 1:41 pm
by Scott Medeiros
The towers on PE are controlled during normal operating hours. Outside of PE hours, you'd treat all airports as uncontrolled and use CTAF.

Re: CTAF And Tower Hours PE Hours of Operation

Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2015 6:22 pm
by barcman1967
Awesome. Thanks.

Re: CTAF And Tower Hours PE Hours of Operation

Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2015 7:04 am
by Keith Smith
And if so, do we use the published tower frequency or the published CTAF frequency?
They are almost always the same thing. Are you seeing cases where they're different?

Re: CTAF And Tower Hours PE Hours of Operation

Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2015 10:06 am
by barcman1967
KSNA could be an example, but the CTAF is the same as one of the multiple tower frequencies. I don't recall seeing any that are completely different however.

The question was primarily regarding whether or not PE simulates published tower hours.

Re: CTAF And Tower Hours PE Hours of Operation

Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2015 10:35 am
by Keith Smith
Very good. Many pilots come over from VATSIM and assume that 122.80 is the CTAF for all airports, I just wanted to make sure you were aware that the CTAF is generally the tower frequency (or in the case of a field with multiple tower freqs, the CTAF is one of those frequencies).

Re: CTAF And Tower Hours PE Hours of Operation

Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2015 10:42 am
by barcman1967
What is VATSIM? Kidding. Was never interested in that type of ATC.....as soon as I found PE however, I dove in like a Scotsman at a pub brawl. Cheers and thanks!