So much for sane budget deficit reduction

The issue is that the genie is out of the bottle. Everyone will want their program saved. There's an editorial in Aviation Week stating that NASA is just as important as controllers.
 
The sequester is not a one time, this fiscal year, law. It extends forever (year 2021, which is forever in politics.) So even with tweaking, it is going to have a real impact on government spending.

The stock market is voting every day for it to continue.
 
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I thought the FAA deal was just letting the FAA rearrange cuts to avoid reducing ATC services? What's getting cut instead to keep these towers (which many of us have agreed aren't needed) open?
 
I heard it was coming out of funds that were set aside for airport infrastructure spending.
 
I think they are planning to reduce user fees to come up with the money.
\__[Ô]__/;1161336 said:
I thought the FAA deal was just letting the FAA rearrange cuts to avoid reducing ATC services? What's getting cut instead to keep these towers (which many of us have agreed aren't needed) open?
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They announced the tower closing, then discovered that most people could care less.

So they cancelled those closures and instead implemented changes that would cause a greater amount of pain.

It worked.
 
The Feds are handing money out like hot cakes. A nearby town received $500,000 to turn an old high school building into a library. We have the quota of low income/education. Now get back to work and pay some more taxes.
 
they are robbing the airport improvement fund to pay for tower controllers in busy places like Garden City, KS. I just don't understand why you all aren't celebrating right along with AOPA...
 
tonycondon said:
they are robbing the airport improvement fund to pay for tower controllers in busy places like Garden City, KS. I just don't understand why you all aren't celebrating right along with AOPA...
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OOooo... 42 operations per day... that's almost 2 per hour. At that rate, you could barely get in a nap between planes.

I'm not sure how much I support the airport improvement fund though. I've seen and heard of some really wasteful projects. So I don't know what to think here.

BTW, AirNav lists 'Flightdeck Restaurant' on field at Garden City. Know if it's any good?
 
\__[Ô]__/;1161434 said:
I'm not sure how much I support the airport improvement fund though. I've seen and heard of some really wasteful projects. So I don't know what to think here.
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I would not say entirely wasteful, but we have 2 little local airports here: A and B. Both have cross-winds, but airport A has a very wide runway. I personally was in a situation where no matter what I do, I just could not land at B (it was in Arrow, which I was unwilling to slam down in a good crab like a 172). Good thing I had fuel onboard... Another time I diverted to A when an airport next door (say, C) had too much wind. In a taildragger! So... Guess which one suddenly received a new cross-wind runway, go on, guess. Bet a tower isn't too far behind.

P.S. To be fair, AIRNAV.com says A is ~90 ops/day and B is ~40..50 ops/day. Which has nothing with their respective crosswind resistance and traffic uses one runway at a time anyway.

P.P.S. The problem with the raiding of airport improvement fund is that many airports that are teetering on the brink are going to close. For example, Las Vegas, New Mexico (KLVS). This is going to hurt, because we can fly without towers, but not without airports. And every time airport is lost, it's gone. Towers are fungible. One day we close them, other day we open them. But once an airport is closed, its land is going to be reused and that's it.
 
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