I come from a sosciety where people will at times step beyond there job, resposibiliby or duty of care to fill an obvious requirement. Ardmore is an uncontrolled aerodrome. Pilots know that anything said by unicom is of an advisory nature only. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
In addition to this comment and a previous post by someone that AR Unicom have ''saved the day'' would perhapes indicate that the service CAA have deemed adequate at AR would not be the case if they (Unicom) are operating outside the scope of their Rule part certification??
Also, i do beleive, correct me if im wrong, UNICOM in Taupo (prior to closure) used to be in the air Nz back office, when the poor Seneca crashed didnt notify airways for nearly 20 minutes even though they had talked with UNICOM on the apporach about the conditions....hmmm wonder if that would happen at AR.
Then mysteriously, they are put back in the tower not long after....
Wouldn't have changed a thing regardless of the level of service (ATC / FIO / Unicom) being provided. There is no low level radar coverage and the only way someone could have perhapes warned the aircraft was off track would have been through the use of a VDF in the tower which gives the bearing. If that device wasn't available (and it wasn't) it wouldn't have mattered if it was ATC FIO or Unicom on.
Finally, as Slackie has put it - CAA are the regulators and it is CAA who determine the level of service required within airspace and airports NOT Airways.