Posted on 03/22/2013 1:49:36 PM PDT by haffast
The US aviation authority plans to close 149 air traffic control towers in response to steep budget cuts that took effect this month.
Towers will close at small airports but the facilities will remain open, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
Pilots will have to co-ordinate takeoff and landing by themselves after 7 April using a shared radio channel.
On 1 March, $85bn (£56bn) was cut from this year's budget after Congress failed to reach a budget deal.
"We heard from communities across the country about the importance of their towers and these were very tough decisions," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement.
But he said the closures were unavoidable because of the spending cuts known in Washington as the sequester.
snip
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
addison’s open
To validate getting their budget increased year after year after year? Gotta have all those government parasites on the payroll dontcha know.
I would guess that most of these airports are in rural areas and see very little traffic in the first place.
“On 1 March, $85bn (£56bn) was cut from this year's budget
after Congress failed to reach a budget deal.”
Then, maybe give us the impact to the FAA....
“Overall, the agency must find $637m in savings through the end of the fiscal year, 30 September.”
Oh, I get it, the FAA’s impact is not the big huge number that you lead with, but the (relatively) little number you report later.
But.... what is the percentage cut from what size budget is the impact at the FAA?
No, don't tell us that.
OK, so what is it? From the Department of Transportation we find the FY2012 enacted, and the FY2013 request. The FY2012 was 15,902 and FY 2013 request was 15,172 (dollars in millions)
http://www.dot.gov/sites/dot.dev/files/docs/dot_budget_highlights_fy_2013_smaller.pdf
Assuming the “requested” amount then the budget cut for the FAA is 637M/15,172M or 4.1%
But, the BBC can't find the “ink” to let us know the percentage cut.
And, I bet that the DoT/FAA could have found a lot more painless ways to cut.
Maybe I should have stopped. The CNN report claims a 48 Billion budget at the FAA.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/22/travel/faa-control-tower-closures/index.html?eref=rss_mostpopular
By congressional mandate, the FAA must cut nearly $600 million from its nearly $48 billion budget this fiscal year. Because the majority of its 47,000 employees are air traffic controllers, it is impossible to cut its budget without affecting controllers, the agency said.
From the LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-airports-sequestration-20130322,0,396847.story?track=rss
The FAA expects to save up to $50 million this year by closing contract towers, FAA Administrator Michael Huerta has told Congress. The agency accounts for just 20% of the Transportation Department's budget but is being asked to absorb 60% of the cuts. Most of the agency's budget is exempt from the mandatory reductions.
Figures never lie, but liars always figure.
Our local airport should be hit with this. Not that we have that much traffic, or that it will be all that hard for them to coordinate their own take-off and landings.
Couple days ago i spoke to a couple gulfstream pilots about this while at Fort Pierce International.
They were worried cause this marxist punk is going to close the tower at Marco Island.
Lots of large jets go in and out and someone is gonna get killed they both said.
I remember sitting in my living room and cheering. There was a lot to cheer about in those days.
We miss you, Ronnie.
all this is pure BS served up by a bastard who HATES America and is just this side of 9 years old...
You obviously know squat about ATC.
Akin to having National Guard run the airlines. Just might be a few empty seats, but the excitement factor on the approach paths would bring in lots of spectators and lawyers.
So I wonder what the mediums are for when the fedguv took over the ATC at these airports, i.e., how much local governments were paying before and after, how much of a budget cut in fedguv real dollars this division is seeing, and how much of a budget cut in real dollars the division’s department is seeing.
What I know about ATC is that President Reagan (God Bless His Name!) fired the air traffic controllers and called in the military to do the job and the world didn’t end.
If only the lamestream media would ask those questions . . .
Translation: Communities across the country made it easier for us to figure out which towers were the ones most wanted by the people, which would be the most painful to close.
-PJ
;-) I Lived in Dallas / Addison for 19 years.
The Addison airport has a GREAT air museum with many vintage airworthy crafts - it's a MUST SEE: The Cavanaugh Flight Museum
Check out the F-105 Thunderchief. That's what GWB flew in the Coast Guard. It's an unstable intercept rocket with tiny wings. They also have an example of GHWB's airplane that he got shot down in during WWII. See their Fokker D.VII, Spitfire, Curtiss P-40N Warhawk, Messerschmitt Me-109, F4, and much more. MUST SEE for the family!
Well, you verified you don't know squat about ATC.
Reagan did NOT "call the military in to do the job".
By the way, I was a controller in Chicago Center in '81, one of 22 controllers there who didn't walk out. Trust me, NO military controllers worked there, and it was the most important facility in the country. We did bring in some FAA controllers from less affected facilities like JAX, MIA, DEN, and it took a while for them to be certified on just one sector. It helped, but not a whole lot.
None of the facilities being closed are critical, it is not unusual for Centers to handle uncontrolled airports...I did it for 35 years.
Gee, only three errors there.
GWB was assigned to a squadron equipped with F-102's, not thuds.
GWB did not fly in the Coast Guard.
The F-105 was NOT an unstable rocket with tiny wings. It was designed, and flown, as a fighter-bomber, capable of carrying very heavy loads (this cannot be done with a tiny wing).
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