Tue, Mar 19, 2013
On The List Of Control Towers In Jeopardy Due To Sequestration
Groton-New London Airport (KGON) in Connecticut is one of the 173 facilities with towers slated to be closed April 7 unless congress and President Obama solve their budget stalemate, and the air traffic control manager there says it will make that and other airports far less safe.
Chet Moore told the The Day newspaper in Connecticut that controllers working the tower at KGON are employed by Mid-West Air Traffic Control, Inc. The private company will be forced to lay off hundreds of air traffic controllers nationwide if the sequestration is fully implemented in two weeks. Other towers to be closed in CT include Sikorsky Memorial and Hartford-Brainard. Moore said KGON is unique in the state because of the mix of traffic it handles, ranging from Connecticut National Guard helicopters to flight schools and the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Group.
Congressman Joe Courtney (D-CT) wrote a letter to FAA administrator Michael Huerta last week saying that the contract towers are a "cost-effective and certified alternative to FAA-operated towers."
In the letter, Courtney said "If these towers are closed, the safety and efficiency of our airspace could be compromised as already short-staffed FAA facilities are left to fill the gap. Cutting a program that plays such an essential role in air safety is counterproductive and potentially dangerous."
One flight instructor in the area, Terry Keller Jr., who flies out of Hartford-Brainard Airport, has created an online petition in an effort to collect 100,000 electronic signatures by April 4 that he hopes to send to the White House.
More News
Very High Frequency The frequency band between 30 and 300 MHz. Portions of this band, 108 to 118 MHz, are used for certain NAVAIDs; 118 to 136 MHz are used for civil air/ground voi>[...]
Aero Linx: Aviation Suppliers Association Established February 25, 1993, the Aviation Suppliers Association (ASA), based in Washington, D.C., is a not-for-profit association, repre>[...]
Have A Story That NEEDS To Be Featured On Aero-News? Here’s How To Submit A Story To Our Team Some of the greatest new stories ANN has ever covered have been submitted by our>[...]
From 2021 (YouTube Version): Colorado Campus Offers aVariety Of Aerospace Entertainment And Education Wings over the Rockies Exploration of Flight is the second location for the Wi>[...]
Also: Paramotor Champ's, Electric Ultralight, ICON BK Update, Burt Rutan at Oshkosh! The Popular Rotorcraft Association is reaching out for help in rebuilding their private runway >[...]