Narrative:

Another pilot; who is a flight instructor; and myself flew to MCAS yuma in july 09; leaving at XA20 and arriving at nyl at XB45. We had each obtained a briefing prior to departure. The briefings included NOTAMS about a runway closure; an obstruction near another runway; etc; but no NOTAM was published about control tower hours of operation. In the AFD; the tower hours of operation are listed as 'closed sundays and holidays ot by NOTAM.' upon our arrival; yuma approach terminated radar service; told us to squawk 1200 and change to CTAF on 119.3; which we did; sequencing ourselves in between other traffic. We parked the aircraft and returned to depart at approximately XE00. At approximately XE05; we announced our taxi intentions on 119.3; crossing runway 17/35 for departure on runway 21R. We departed; turned right downwind; climbed and contacted yuma approach for flight following. Approach told us that yuma tower had been trying to reach us. We responded that we never heard anyone attempting to contact us on 119.3. We rechecked the AFD and verified 'tower closed on sundays and holidays ot by NOTAM.' no further mention of it was made by ATC; and our return flight proceeded. The next day I received a message to call the tower chief at MCAS yuma. I spoke to him and told him what the AFD and NOTAMS read; and also that the information online was the same as the AFD. He said he would look into it and call me back. He called me back and said that I was correct; that the AFD information was incorrect; that their hours of operation on sundays are 1000-1800 local; and that a NOTAM was supposed to have been filed; but was not. He said that there had been a request to change the information in the AFD but it had not been corrected. We discussed the fact that the tower could hear our transmissions announcing our intentions; but we could not hear them trying to contact us. We had no radio problems with the other 10 to 12 tower; ground; approach and center frequencies we were on that day. My speculation is that the extreme heat (it was 115 degrees when we departed) the plane was in for 2.5 hours might have temporarily caused our radio to not allow us to hear to tower calling us; only allowing the tower to hear what we were transmitting. We had no problems hearing yuma approach or any other transmissions after that. The tower chief told me that because of the AFD error and the NOTAM not filed; and because we announced our taxi and takeoff intentions; no further action would occur.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Pilot reported landing at NYL using CTAF procedures on a Sunday with no problems. The same procedures are used for departure 2.5 hours later. The tower was then in operation but the reporter cannot hear them; a takeoff without clearance ensues. AFD states tower closed on Sundays; a NOTAM was not issued to the contrary.

Narrative: Another pilot; who is a flight instructor; and myself flew to MCAS Yuma in July 09; leaving at XA20 and arriving at NYL at XB45. We had each obtained a briefing prior to departure. The briefings included NOTAMS about a runway closure; an obstruction near another runway; etc; but no NOTAM was published about Control Tower hours of operation. In the AFD; the Tower hours of operation are listed as 'closed Sundays and Holidays OT by NOTAM.' Upon our arrival; Yuma Approach terminated radar service; told us to squawk 1200 and change to CTAF on 119.3; which we did; sequencing ourselves in between other traffic. We parked the aircraft and returned to depart at approximately XE00. At approximately XE05; we announced our taxi intentions on 119.3; crossing Runway 17/35 for departure on Runway 21R. We departed; turned right downwind; climbed and contacted Yuma Approach for flight following. Approach told us that Yuma Tower had been trying to reach us. We responded that we never heard anyone attempting to contact us on 119.3. We rechecked the AFD and verified 'Tower closed on Sundays and holidays OT by NOTAM.' No further mention of it was made by ATC; and our return flight proceeded. The next day I received a message to call the Tower Chief at MCAS Yuma. I spoke to him and told him what the AFD and NOTAMS read; and also that the information online was the same as the AFD. He said he would look into it and call me back. He called me back and said that I was correct; that the AFD information was incorrect; that their hours of operation on Sundays are 1000-1800 local; and that a NOTAM was supposed to have been filed; but was not. He said that there had been a request to change the information in the AFD but it had not been corrected. We discussed the fact that the Tower could hear our transmissions announcing our intentions; but we could not hear them trying to contact us. We had no radio problems with the other 10 to 12 Tower; Ground; Approach and Center frequencies we were on that day. My speculation is that the extreme heat (it was 115 degrees when we departed) the plane was in for 2.5 hours might have temporarily caused our radio to not allow us to hear to Tower calling us; only allowing the Tower to hear what we were transmitting. We had no problems hearing Yuma Approach or any other transmissions after that. The Tower Chief told me that because of the AFD error and the NOTAM not filed; and because we announced our taxi and takeoff intentions; no further action would occur.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.