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Posted on 03/31/2013 2:07:56 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Texas will pay to keep 13 local air traffic control towers that the Obama administration plans shut down in order to play politics with the sequester.
Last week, the Obama administration announced it would close 149 air traffic control towers nationwide starting on April 7 to save $600 million.
The Texas Department of Transportation said safety and Texas's economy, which relies on air travel, prompted the state to keep the air traffic control towers open.
“Safety is the primary reason we felt a need to take immediate action for the air travelers and business aircraft that use these airports," Texas Transportation Commissioner Fred Underwood said in a statement. "I am proud of our leaders for taking this extraordinary measure to ensure that those relying on these municipal airports will be able to depart and arrive safely and efficiently."(continued)
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Without Federal control...maybe more jobs to be had?
I was hoping this was towers on the southern border!
As it should be. Actually, it should be the city or airports duty. Certainly not the Federal government.
Ping!
Could this be a Democratic ploy? Almost assuredly it is... and so it was up to the local folks to decide, they did.
Please ping me to aviation and aerospace articles. Thank you.
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Funny how City and Local Government tends to follow National Government - strange coincidence
?
Now for the Border Patrol agents in Arizona who are facing a 40% pay cut right now due to Obama’s and Janet’s political shenanigans.
make the cuts hurt, as Obama said
Municipal airports should all be funded by local monies. I agree.
It’s not just salary cuts...It is a total capitulation on operating budgets for ALL sectors along our border...
If Texas is going to take over the funding of that aspect of Federal control, then the border should shift to each states balliwick...And the decisions for what level of enforcement and security, and disposition of those people that are caught needs to fall directly to the local jurisdictions...
Period...
And we should NEVER give it back to the Feds!!!
Period...
Get rid of them and replace them with militia, funded by the states. Start with Texas, and rotate militia units in so that it trains up young men in the profession of arms. Problem solved.
BAZ NEW BRAUNFELS MUNI NEW BRAUNFELS TX BRO BROWNSVILLE/ SOUTH PADRE ISLAND INTL BROWNSVILLE TX CLL EASTERWOOD FIELD COLLEGE STATION TX CNW TSTC WACO WACO TX CXO LONE STAR EXECUTIVE HOUSTON TX GTU GEORGETOWN MUNI GEORGETOWN TX HYI SAN MARCOS MUNI SAN MARCOS TX RBD DALLAS EXECUTIVE DALLAS TX SGR SUGAR LAND RGNL HOUSTON TX SSF STINSON MUNI SAN ANTONIO TX TKI COLLIN COUNTY RGNL AT MC KINNEY DALLAS TX TYR TYLER POUNDS RGNL TYLER TX VCT VICTORIA RGNL VICTORIA TXComplete List PDF
Good Lord. . .most of them are not in busy airspace and could function quite well without a tower.
Unicom, traffic pattern procedures and pilots using their brains and eyeballs is all it takes for safe ops.
Control towers are not essential even at busy airports as pilots can organize themselves, using air sense and judgment.
Pilots know the risks and take seriously “see and avoid.”
Towers are great for DFW, IAD, ORD, etc. . .but not necessary in San Marcos and the like.
Here’s the thing...your opinion is fine in a vacuum, but you need to consider a few other things:
1) Aviation policy is federal...like it or not. Quite frankly it has to be. Commercial air travel didn’t exist and was inconceivable in the 18th century. It should be Federal jurisdiction. I can go into the reasons if you’d like but it should be pretty self-evident that having 50 different sets of aviation regulations would be detrimental to air travel (as much as we hate them, the FAA and Transport Canada provide streamlined, concise regulation that allows a pilot in California to understand the regulations in Maine without having to learn a whole bunch of additional esoteric laws to keep his license).
2) Stemming from 1, the decision about which airports should have control towers and which shouldn’t is based on traffic volume and type. It is a decision based on traffic patterns that cross state lines. This in and of itself makes it clear that the most efficient way to run air traffic is for it to be federal government jurisdiction.
3) However, I think that air traffic services people should be employed by the airport’s controlling authority (although licensed federally just like aviators) and not by the FedGov.
So all in all, you’re half right and I’ve given you a host of reasons why it will never happen. The airports would say “Well you say I have to have a controller but you won’t fund it...so I’m not going to have one.” I think this could be more effectively solved by just saying, any airport that has a monthly average traffic volume of X or greater needs Y ATC structure.
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