USA Today article on airport closures

My apologies...that title should be tower closures.
 
Yet nobody seems a bit concerned about the many thousands pilotless drones that will soon be filling our skies.

I wonder how they will explain mid air collisions of drones that are sure to be an upcoming event, pilot error will be out as a way of explaining it, how about joystick operator error? How will they explain crashes involving autonomous drones? 98% of all drone accidents are directly related to computer chips made in China?

They have decided to make the skies of San Diego a test area for drones. They are also closing the tower at Ramona Airport (KRNM) which is the aerial firefighting hub for San Diego and surrounding counties.

With all the climbing costs, along with the continuing escalation of regulations imposed on GA, I doubt if in the very near future that the loss of control towers at GA airports will be much of a concern to anyone. I don't think drones require towers anyway.

Developers are gleefully waiting in the wings for all of the upcoming GA airport closures. It won't take much more than a mid air or two to get politicians all over why we need General Aviation in the first place. They will be screaming for it to be brought to an end with one hand, while the other hand will be in the developers pocket.

As pointed out in San Diego recently, dangerous emergency landings on highways are always within a few miles of schools...what about the children?

-John
 
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I don't, though I can see how it would make a good story for the uninformed.

My home airport will loose its tower, as will one I frequent often. I doubt anything will change, neither really needs a tower. There will be midairs when the tower at KOSU closes, I predict. Flaming wreckage on the very tony neighboring property, that'll help matters.
 
I see the Texas DOT has decided to fund the towers that would have been closed, at least temporarily.

On Thursday, the Texas Department of Transportation agreed to pay $2 million to keep open 13 airport towers in the state and a tower in Texarkana, Ark., for 90 days while officials seek a long-term funding source. The airports handle 1,100 flights a week on average.

"The FAA made a determination that we should have the control towers here for the past decade or longer," DOT executive director Phil Wilson said. "We're trying to maintain that level of safety and integrity."
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Everskyward said:
I see the Texas DOT has decided to fund the towers that would have been closed, at least temporarily.
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Some other locals have also decided to do the same or at least plan to if their tower were to be closed under a future closure announcement.

I am fine with that. What I am concerned about is if these locally funded towers then would be enabled by local politicians to start taking action to control access and/or airspace. Things that are normally left to the feds. Things like flying through the airspace of the tower they control causes one to pay a user fee to that local community, etc.
 
steingar said:
I don't, though I can see how it would make a good story for the uninformed.

My home airport will loose its tower, as will one I frequent often. I doubt anything will change, neither really needs a tower. There will be midairs when the tower at KOSU closes, I predict. Flaming wreckage on the very tony neighboring property, that'll help matters.
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With as much as tuition is at B1G schools, I don't see why the university can't pay for the tower controllers there.
 
ScottM said:
Some other locals have also decided to do the same or at least plan to if their tower were to be closed under a future closure announcement.

I am fine with that. What I am concerned about is if these locally funded towers then would be enabled by local politicians to start taking action to control access and/or airspace. Things that are normally left to the feds. Things like flying through the airspace of the tower they control causes one to pay a user fee to that local community, etc.
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I'm not sure how much control local governments have over the airspace but it will be interesting to see. As far as funding goes, the money needs to come from somewhere. Interesting how Texas was the first state or local entity to do this. Good for them.
 
EdFred said:
With as much as tuition is at B1G schools, I don't see why the university can't pay for the tower controllers there.
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No, that money goes to administration.... and the debt service after blowing huge wads on building new fancy stuff to attract students.
 
EdFred said:
With as much as tuition is at B1G schools, I don't see why the university can't pay for the tower controllers there.
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I certainly hope not. The University has far better things to do with those funds that address undergraduate and graduate education. Paying for control towers is the FAA's job.
 
steingar said:
I certainly hope not. The University has far better things to do with those funds that address undergraduate and graduate education. Paying for control towers is the FAA's job.
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Airport is owned by the university not the faa
 
EdFred said:
With as much as tuition is at B1G schools, I don't see why the university can't pay for the tower controllers there.
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Maybe E Gordon Gee, Prez of THE Ohio State University can pay for KOSU Tower operation out of his seemingly bottomless entertainment budget. :rolleyes:

Cheers
 
X3 Skier said:
Maybe E Gordon Gee, Prez of THE Ohio State University can pay for KOSU Tower operation out of his seemingly bottomless entertainment budget. :rolleyes:

Cheers
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I'm not one that thinks privatization of the FAA is the best solution, but I think if you are primarily responsible for the majority of the traffic going into somewhere, then maybe you should shoulder the majority of the costs. Hub airports? Majority of the tower controller and ground controller personnel cost should be ponied up by the carriers. Flight training schools like WMU, UND, ERAU, majority of the cost should be paid for by the schools. Let the FAA fund TRACON and ARTCC, and towers where a primary user isn't responsible, and let those who are forcing the field to have a tower to pay for it.
 
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steingar said:
I certainly hope not. The University has far better things to do with those funds that address undergraduate and graduate education. Paying for control towers is the FAA's job.
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Like paying for sports?

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2
 
Everskyward said:
I'm not sure how much control local governments have over the airspace but it will be interesting to see. As far as funding goes, the money needs to come from somewhere. Interesting how Texas was the first state or local entity to do this. Good for them.
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Actually we heard from the airport manager at DuPage during the AOPA meeting with Craig Fuller last month, that the county and city there was also prepared to do this before Texas said anything. That KDPA did not close meant that they didn't. I would guess that lots of places had this plane and all that Texas did was get their press release out first.
 
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