Forum: aviation.stackexchange.com
Tags: <faa-regulations><air-traffic-control><airline-operations><easa-regulations>
Title: Can commercial air traffic operate from uncontrolled airport, airspace?
Question: Are there any airports with scheduled services where big jets (say 737 or A320) or wide bodies regularly operate without control tower?   Are there any rules (EASA FAA) for this?   If controllers go on strike can commercial air transport continue to operate?

Answers:
sents: text: I will answer your question with what we can see in Brazilian Airspace and its rules.
text: In Brazil, there are some airports - non towered, operated by radio stations - which give information such as wind direction/intensity and temperature and QNH.
text: Based on this information, the pilot decides on which runway they will land or take off, and relays this message to the radio operator.
text: The operator will only relay these pieces of information to pilots monitoring the radio frequency.
text: Those airports are not controlled, then, if there is any strike, flying visually, no control will be effective.
text: For example, ARU/SBAU is a non towered airport, and TAM Airlines operates the A320F there.
answer_details: author: aviation.stackexchange.com/users/14354/eduardoguilherme
score: 15
sents: text: The Canadian Arctic has B737 scheduled airline operations to many uncontrolled airports that have no control tower.
answer_details: author: aviation.stackexchange.com/users/12589/Mike Sowsun
score: 15
sents: text: American Airlines operates an A319 seasonally from DFW to Gunnison (KGUC), which is an uncontrolled airport .
text: There are probably many other similar examples.
text: An airline flight arriving at an uncontrolled field operates just like any other aircraft: it will almost certainly be IFR and fly an instrument approach, or a visual approach if conditions allow it.
text: Radio calls, pattern etc.
text: should be the same as for any other aircraft arriving IFR at an uncontrolled airport.
text: The airline's OpSpec might have some specific procedures for uncontrolled airports, but otherwise it's just another aircraft.
text: Controllers going on strike is a totally different scenario; you might want to ask about that separately.
answer_details: author: aviation.stackexchange.com/users/62/Pondlife
score: 12
sents: text: Any plane can land at any airport as long as the runway is long enough.
text: There is no regulation saying that a 737 cannot land at a non-controlled airport.
text: All of the commercial pilots that have had their training in the private sector have had to land at non controlled airports.
text: I say all, but I'm sure there are some exceptions.
text: Let's just say most.
text: It is no big deal.
text: Here at our local airport, KLBX, there is no tower and there are four large jets that come and go every single day, even when the weather is IFR.
text: There is so little realistic understanding of aircraft and air travel due to the continued misrepresentation by the media and movies.
text: There was the incident of the control tower guy falling asleep and the commercial flight had to land without the tower control.
text: It was all over the news as though it was a miracle that the plane didn't just crash all over the place.
text: As though a pilot cannot land a plane without the tower saying "Cleared to land 13R.
text: " That's all they do anyway.
text: The pilot is still responsible for looking and seeing if the runway is really clear and ready to take the plane.
text: In IFR conditions there is still what's called the minimums.
text: If you can't see the runway when you reach the minimums you are not allowed to land there.
text: Again, there is an exception, but it won't be available at non-controlled airports because of the cost.
text: I don't know about Brazil or Japan or any other country.
text: I fly in the US only, and most of it in Texas.
text: You'd be surprised how many non-towered airports there are where you even have to turn on the runway lights from your plane at night.
answer_details: author: aviation.stackexchange.com/users/8228/ScottinTexas
score: 8
sents: text: Usually any airport with enough traffic that it would attract a big commercial jet will merit a tower.
text: However, there are a few weird exceptions here and there and some of the other answers have described these.
text: I think you may be thinking that a tower would be necessary somehow or that flying a heavy into an airport without a tower would be dangerous, and that is not necessarily true.
text: Pilots can self-organize and land themselves just fine without a tower.
text: The tower is mostly there to speed things up and enable large volumes of aircraft to land as quickly as possible.
text: If an airfield is busy and there is no tower, then the aircraft will tend to spread themselves out more, approach from longer distances and do things more slowly.
text: With the tower there it speeds everything up.
text: If an airport is out in the middle of nowhere and does not get any traffic, then there is no need for a tower and it does not really matter whether the plane is big or small.
answer_details: author: aviation.stackexchange.com/users/1378/Tyler Durden
score: 6

Summary of the answers:
Commercial aircraft can operate into and out of uncontrolled air fields. Air fields have towers when they have a large volume of traffic, it is nothing to do with the size of planes using the field. Pilots can organise take off and landing without the tower. The tower serves to organise traffic on busy airfields. Air Canada and American Airlines are examples of large airlines that fly in and out of uncontrolled airports.
There is no regulation stating that a 737 is not allowed to land at an uncontrolled airport. Aircraft can land safely without a tower, provided that there is a long enough runway. Pilots are able to organize amongst themselves and if an uncontrolled airfield is busy, they will take action to compensate. 

There are many examples of airports without a control tower. If an airport is in a remote location and does not get a lot of traffic, there is no need for a tower. The purpose of the tower is to speed up the flow of traffic. If an airport does not have much traffic, there is no need for a tower. However, if an airport gets enough traffic to attract a large jet, it will usually also have a tower.