This is an excerpt from a report made to the Aviation Safety Reporting System. The narrative is written by the pilot, rather than FAA or NTSB officials. To maintain anonymity, many details, such as aircraft model or airport, are often scrubbed from the reports.
On a VFR flight to Auburn University Regional Airport (KAUO) in Alabama, I picked up the weather at Auburn about 30 miles out, informed ATC I had the weather, and I was ready to cancel flight following. They told me to squawk VFR and frequency change approved.
I switched to the Auburn CTAF frequency and reported my position as I approached the airport.
As I was entering the downwind for Runway 36, Auburn Tower contacted me on the CTAF frequency, notified me I violated their airspace and gave me their frequency to switch to. They gave me a landing clearance and I landed without issue.
This is a flight I have made multiple times and before the flight I updated my sectional chart and checked the airport NOTAMs before departure.
At no point in that process did I realize a tower had been added to this airport.
After landing, I checked the sectional and saw that the airport is shown in Class E/G airspace, with the icon being red, which indicates an untowered field.
The NOTAMs do not warn that the airport is towered, but there are two NOTAMs mentioning times the tower is closed. I must have skimmed over these because NOTAMs mentioning a tower being closed should be irrelevant to an untowered airport.
I told the tower controller that my updated sectional showed the airport as untowered, and he responded that “it’s on there.”
After reviewing it post-flight, I disagree, and I would be surprised if any VFR pilot looking at the airport on a sectional would realize it has a tower.
Primary Problem: Ambiguous
ACN: 2195929
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