Originally Posted by
chevvron
Simple.
Suppose you're not the only pilot wishing to do this and one or two more aircraft arrive at the same time; somebody needs to be there to decide the 'batting order' and also to integrate any IFR departures which might occur at the same time.
From what I've been told, I understand (may be wrong) that with non towered airfields in the USA, the TRACON controller does all the above whilst you are in Class D/E airspace; don't know how they play it in Oz though.
This is correct in the USA for real approaches in IMC. A practice approach in VMC, though, doesn't need anything other than a safety pilot to perform see-and-avoid while the PIC is under the hood. No need to talk to anybody, although best practice would be to self-announce on CTAF.
My airfield has 2 RNAV approaches that anyone can practice whenever they like, and the uncontrolled field 10nm away has an ILS that is free for anyone to use in VMC, no need to talk to any controller.