for later read ........................................................................................... FRegards
Posted on 03/23/2013 9:08:57 AM PDT by Kaslin
Sequestration chatter isn’t going away any time soon, and one of the expected headlines is making the rounds again this week. Air traffic control towers at nearly 150 airports across the nation are going to sit empty, forcing pilots to figure out safe landing procedures by a combination of the seats of their pants and furiously cracking open fortune cookies. In other words, you’re all going to die.
The Federal Aviation Administration on Friday told 149 regional airports across the country it would begin closing their air traffic control towers in April, but said it would spare another 40 towers that had been on the chopping block.
The agency said the cuts are necessary to help meet $637 million in forced spending cuts.
The tower closures will begin April 7 and will be phased in over four weeks, FAA Chief Operating Officer David Grizzle said in a memo obtained by CNN.
They need to cut $637M out of their budget, but how big is that budget? And how big of a percentage would you need to slash before you just start shutting down towers? Doug Mataconis thinks there might be a little more to see here than just red and black numbers on a balance sheet. Could it be… politics?
The FAA claims that it cannot cut $600 million from its $58 billion without impacting air traffic control. Honestly, though, I can’t believe that this is true. It seems more likely to me that the Administration is phasing in cuts that are designed to have the most public impact in order to win a political battle. Take a fine tooth comb to that budget, guys, before you start risking public safety.
I’m not doubting that for a moment, but somehow I think there’s yet another layer to this onion. It’s not just the number of towers being shut down, but which specific ones. And more to the point… who works there. When you scan down the list of closures, these are all towers which are managed and staffed by private contractors. Not one of them is staffed up by the National Air Traffic Controllers Association union. That’s something of a remarkable coincidence, isn’t it? Maybe not.
No FAA air-traffic facilities will be shut down for at least a year, Doug Church, spokesman for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association union, said in an e-mailed statement.
The FAA’s union contract requires that controllers get at least a year’s notice before a facility is closed, Church said. The agency Feb. 22 issued a list of 49 FAA towers that were subject to closing in addition to the private towers.
The union workers will be forced to take off one day without pay every two weeks, which spreads the pain around a little but their jobs and their towers aren’t going away. And leave it to public sector unions to find a way to wring a silver (or green) lining out of any dark cloud. Assume there is some sort of public outcry this year after a couple of regional jets clip wings on the runways of some municipal airports. At that point, Washington gets the excuse they need to staff at least some of the towers back up. Will they go back to the private contractors, or will the unions move in with their “much more efficient” practices?
Time will tell. And we’ll be watching with great interest.
It was a mid-afternoon operation during another “tower closure” episode.
Looking at flight operation schedules in 2013 will tell you very little about operations in the 1980s. LOL
At that time around four daily Horizon Airlines flights arrived and departed.
What nobody has explained in public or on the news to my satisfaction, is why are all these sequestration “cuts” happening? I understood, and it has been confirmed through several news reports I’ve seen, that the sequester was not actual cuts to existing spending but were a reduction in the increase in future spending for this year and some years forward. And they were insignificant reductions in the increases at that. It’s comparable to your boss telling you that you were up for a $200 a month raise and then right before the raise was to start, he tells you sorry, but he can’t afford $200 a month for your increase. But he can afford $198 a month. Not a real big disappointment is it?
So why all this hand-wringing over “cuts” that were not supposed to be cuts anyway? What’s going on, besides politics as usual?
Somebody needs to check.
My quick look at the airports is that they are mostly in Republican districts.
The cut that the FAA has is still MORE than what they had last year!!!
“My quick look at the airports is that they are mostly in Republican districts.”
I had the same thought as you. The first one on the FAA’s cut list, Dothan, Alabama, is particularly costly. The city was set to announce a major new company coming to the city. This company, apparently a major aviation player, decided to hold off on the announcement (citing safety concerns) until the FAA list was finalized. I don’t know the number of new hires this company would have generated but apparently it was a considerable number. I’ve not read or heard reactions from city officials yet.
How many of the airports affected have traffic sufficient to warrant a manned tower??
Conservatives need to lease these towers ASAP to keep them out
of the hands of the unions, if only holding a weekly cocktail party in them. If that’s possible?
The purpose is to kill people so he can then point his finger at the GOP and whine that they “have blood on their hands.”
Of course
It’s not only Barry throw up; it’s our Congress. They are letting him get away with literally murder.
The FAA needs to find $657 million in cuts due to the sequester.
President Obama granted $200 million to Jordan and $500 million to Palestine this weekend during his Mideast trip.
As a resident of the People's Socialist RepubliK of Illinois, that's exactly what the Democrat controlled state here does every time they want to raise taxes.
First to get cut is always teachers, police and fire to try and make the public scream "raise my taxes!"
Fools fall for it every time in this state, Barry's expecting the country to do the same.
for later read ........................................................................................... FRegards
The contract towers were the lowest traffic towers (level 1 of 5) when they were run by the FAA. That’s why they were contracted out. It’s not a union/non-union issue.
The choice of where the FAA is making the “cuts” IS political...to annoy the flying public and thereby try to get the Republicans blamed.
When they thanked us for it, I told them to thank Mike (ex-partner) - he's the one that can't fly right. He damned-near dumped our C177-RG into Lake Pontarchain!
I made my bones when I was a kid ......................................................................... FRegards
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