"Lawmaker slams bid to cut airport tower hours"

Saturday, March 12, 2005

Stevens slams bid to cut airport tower hours 
AIRPORTS: Federal plan would reduce presence of controllers at 48 locations.

By LESLIE MILLER
The Associated Press 


WASHINGTON -- Control towers at 48 airports could go dark between midnight
and 5 a.m. under a cost-cutting plan the government is considering. 

The air traffic controllers' union says the move would compromise safety.
Lawmakers worry it could lead to service reductions in their states.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, said Wednesday
that if the Federal Aviation Administration closes the tower in Fairbanks
for part of the day, it "would be the most stupid suggestion I've ever heard
from the bureaucracy."

With three Texas airports on the list, "closing towers at cities with
military bases at a time of war is wrong," said Chris Paulitz, spokeswoman
for Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas.

FAA spokesman Greg Martin said the agency is looking to adjust staffing to
meet changes in demand. The FAA has not made a final decision and is
reviewing each airport, he said.

All 48 airports handle few commercial and cargo flights in those five late
night hours.

Doug Church, spokesman for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association,
said closing the towers for any period of time "is just not safe."

Federal air traffic controllers staff 315 airports, but not all do it around
the clock. For example, control towers at Mansfield Regional Airport in Ohio
and at Palm Springs International Airport in California operate for only 17
hours, Martin said.

In addition, there are 193 airports with scheduled commercial service that
do not even have control towers, Martin said.

When a tower is empty, pilots are always in voice contact with a controller,
either at the Terminal Radar Approach Control or at a center, Martin said.

Approach controls handle aircraft approaching and departing airports within
about a 50-mile radius; the 21 centers handle much bigger segments of
airspace.

Church said it is important that pilots have controllers who can see runway
conditions.

The Bush administration has proposed a lean budget in 2006 for the FAA. Yet
next year, the FAA plans to hire and train about 1,200 air traffic
controllers to replace those who are leaving.

Rep. John Mica, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure's
aviation subcommittee, said closing some towers for part of the day is a
good idea.

"Sometimes they have one or two planes landing at this airport and it's
costing us tens of millions of dollars to keep them open," Mica said.

With the FAA's budget problems, Mica said, more than 48 airports may need to
have staffing hours reduced. "We have to start looking at what makes sense
financially," he said.


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