As the FAA considers closing approximately 170 air traffic control towers in the coming weeks due to budget sequestration, some pilots may find themselves flying into and out of busy airports they’ve flown to hundreds of times before, but now without a tower. The National Business Aviation Association has released an informative “tips and tricks” page on its website. While focusing on the business pilot, it has information valuable for all pilots. Check it out here.
Reader Interactions
Share this story
Become better informed pilot.
Join 110,000 readers each month and get the latest news and entertainment from the world of general aviation direct to your inbox, daily.
Only a few of the towers proposed to be closed have much traffic. In the PNW, perhaps three of the 15-20 towers on the closure list really are needed. The problem is the process (none) used to arrive at the decision. A few of the towers really do have a lot of traffic (flight schools, military, medevac flights, etc.). I hope the Senate will require the FAA to take a hard look rather than use a meat ax approach. The DOT budget puts a disproportionate hit on the FAA to address sequester.
Many companies that haul freight to airports will do so ONLY if there is an operational control tower. If the tower goes so does the freight and the jobs associated with it.
Most of us already fly from non-towered airports, the ones slated for closure in our area are really not needed for the traffic that they have, in fact I can realistically see at least a dozen more that could go and not really be missed.
Hear, hear John! Most if not all of the airport tower closures in the northern NE area that I saw listed are hardly “busy” excepting one or two odd days a year.