Sign the Petition to Save the Most Important Towered Fields

J

Jps19602002@mac.com

Filing Flight Plan
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Oct 24, 2012
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Farmington, CT
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Display name:
Bruuce
I seek to avoid the closure or Hartford-Brainard’s air traffic control tower, along with nearly 190 other control towers in the United States of America, which is currently scheduled for April 1, 2013. To accomplish this, I have created a petition on the website “We the People”, which is a feature of WhiteHouse.gov.

We the People was set up to allow anyone to petition the government, and if this petition gets 100,000 signatures by April 04, 2013, the it will be reviewed and responded to by the government! You can view and sign the petition here:

Click here. Or you may paste this link in your browser:

http://wh.gov/GCng
Please forward this information and the above link to anyone you think will be interested in assisting this effort. Thank you! Here is the text of the petition as it appears on We the People:

Prevent the closure of air traffic control towers in the U.S. as a
result of the Budget Control Act - Sequestration

Airport air traffic control towers provide services to pilots that are
essential to the safety, the efficiency, and the smooth operations of
flights. While not all airports have a control tower, airports with towers
are typically very busy and have a significant amount of air traffic.

At these airports, the air traffic controllers regulate when aircraft can
take off and land, and they contribute to aviation safety by helping to avoid
collisions. Controllers also provide numerous other services to pilots.

Closing air traffic control towers as a cost saving measure will be a
detriment to aviation in this country. The closures will reduce efficiency
and will adversely affect the safety of air travel.

See www.PremierFlightCT.com for additional details by the petitioner.



Again, you may Click here, or you may paste this link in your browser to add your name to the petition:

http://wh.gov/GCng
 
I will not sign this. I think that a number of towers should be closed. The ones that need them will likely end up being reopened later.
 
This is NIMBY-ism on the part of some pilots. Everyone thinks their case is special.
 
Won't even think about signing that. Learn to fly without the freakin tower.
 
might be worth a counter petition to increase the closures.
 
JHW said:
might be worth a counter petition to increase the closures.
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Good idea, Jeff. If you create it, I will sign it.
 
I won't sign either! The real intent of sequestration is to get us to whine and cry about budget cuts so politicians can say I told you so. I'm not going to play into that and support the ongoing spending spree mindset. The savings could have been easily done in a way that made sense with little impact but impact is the name of the game as egos/politics seem to be more important that we the people.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
I will not sign this. I think that a number of towers should be closed. The ones that need them will likely end up being reopened later.
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Ted hits it out of the park. There will be airports that suffer without a tower, but they are the vast minority. And who knows, the resulting free for all might cause folks to relocate their aircraft to less heavily frequented airports. Heck, there are seven in my teeny weeny little one horse town alone.
 
You guys are sad. You are obviously not based at field in a busy airspace almost under a Class Charlie with two flight schools and numerous transient aircraft coming in an out. On weekends, we probably have 3 or 4 in the pattern and several trying to keep up their instrument rating. Probably have over 6-700 T/O and Landings on Weekends. I can understand why 50-70% of the fields on the list are there as I have flown into several but KHFD is one that I would keep open or there will be more accidents. It would even be ok to cut the hours and close on some weekdays rather than outright closure.
 
I am based at an airfield with a daily average of 470 flight operations so I understand busy and our tower is closing as well. There are much more effecient ways to cut cost within the FAA.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
I will not sign this. I think that a number of towers should be closed. The ones that need them will likely end up being reopened later.
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Agreed. Looking at the ones in my state, Indiana, I think they could all easily be closed, except for possibly the Lafayette tower where Purdue's aviation department flies. I think it is good to have that tower, if for no other reason that for the students.
 
Another thing to consider is this: the "fiscal cliff" is not some kind of myth that stupid Tea Party neanderthals pulled out of their hairy butts. It's real and we're rushing to it. I lived through one of those in some other country. If this kind of whining happens when 2.25% is cut, consider what's going to happen when 80% is cut, which is _inevitable_ unless we cut 5% year over year for 20 years from now on.
 
Jps19602002@mac.com said:
You guys are sad. You are obviously not based at field in a busy airspace almost under a Class Charlie with two flight schools and numerous transient aircraft coming in an out. On weekends, we probably have 3 or 4 in the pattern and several trying to keep up their instrument rating. Probably have over 6-700 T/O and Landings on Weekends. I can understand why 50-70% of the fields on the list are there as I have flown into several but KHFD is one that I would keep open or there will be more accidents. It would even be ok to cut the hours and close on some weekdays rather than outright closure.
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Obviously?

Actually I'm based at KJYO which is under a Class B 1500 foot shelf, 3 flight schools, medevac, many transits as a reliever for IAD, and oh yeah, in the DC SFRA. Using the Airnav numbers 25% more traffic than KHFD.

No tower.

There might be a business case to keep HFD open (though I don't know what it would be) but to say closing it will cause "more accidents" is silly. Pilots should look out the window. There is nothing inherently less safe about an uncontrolled field until the numbers get way higher.... I like the freedom of pilot control. There is a tower at IAD. If I felt unsafe landing without a tower, I'd move there.
 
There is only one petition that counts. And that one will be collected on 11/4/2014.
 
I've been into about 15 airports on the list, never understood why they had towers to begin with and I could add a few more to the list. If this is the way they chose to save money, so be it, we need more drastic cuts than this. Once they cut the most visible services, they might actually have to start cutting the pointless ones.
 
Jps19602002@mac.com said:
You guys are sad. You are obviously not based at field in a busy airspace almost under a Class Charlie with two flight schools and numerous transient aircraft coming in an out. On weekends, we probably have 3 or 4 in the pattern and several trying to keep up their instrument rating. Probably have over 6-700 T/O and Landings on Weekends. I can understand why 50-70% of the fields on the list are there as I have flown into several but KHFD is one that I would keep open or there will be more accidents. It would even be ok to cut the hours and close on some weekdays rather than outright closure.
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I can't speak to your home field, which may not deserve a tower closing. But your petition addresses 190 fields. Thats a pretty big jump fom "my field needs it's tower".

We need to cut costs where we can. The status quo ain't working and your petition is essentially to maintain the status quo. I can't support that.
 
Jps19602002@mac.com said:
You guys are sad. You are obviously not based at field in a busy airspace almost under a Class Charlie with two flight schools and numerous transient aircraft coming in an out. On weekends, we probably have 3 or 4 in the pattern and several trying to keep up their instrument rating. Probably have over 6-700 T/O and Landings on Weekends. I can understand why 50-70% of the fields on the list are there as I have flown into several but KHFD is one that I would keep open or there will be more accidents. It would even be ok to cut the hours and close on some weekdays rather than outright closure.
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Sounds to me like you're pretty sad if you think you need a tower for that, given the fact there are much busier airports without a tower. Boo hoo, poor you.

And as I said, if it's justified, expect the tower to reopen. No reason to keep most of those others open.
 
Man, this is refreshing. I thought I was the only one who reacted negatively from requests from the two flight schools that I use at KUES and KMWC to contact our elected reps to plea for the towers to remain open.

And I thought pilots were somewhat of the NIMBY type.

Well done!
 
Man...pilots are worse than the Irish sometimes. Ill be the odd man out and sign it.
 
I won't play the administration's game. Instead of targeting things that would make sense like duplicated government functions, etc. identified by the government, they are targeting things that will produce the biggest squeals.
 
I am glad to see the overwhelming amount of logic in this thread. Good job, PoA! :cheers:
 
Isn't ATC funded by JET-A and 100LL tax revenues? Or is ATC operating on credit also?
 
acluffpoa said:
I won't sign either! The real intent of sequestration is to get us to whine and cry about budget cuts so politicians can say I told you so. I'm not going to play into that and support the ongoing spending spree mindset. The savings could have been easily done in a way that made sense with little impact but impact is the name of the game as egos/politics seem to be more important that we the people.
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This!
The Class C field here has a midnight shift that doesn't even put up an ATIS...I have had to call three of four times late at night just to get into the Class C...

The closure of this many towers CANT be a result of sequestration...I say this because MANY, MANY other towers are cutting back hours of operation in the same percentages as the sequestration....

It simply don't add up...
 
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The sequester cut is about the same percentage as our new years increased income tax withholding.
 
Funny but all I've seen is a pdf file of a list of towers that "could" be closed. They sure are getting the intended media fluff out of it all though.

Tower closures would not necessarily result in airport closures, because some aircraft can land without air traffic control help....


Channel 4 spoke with neighbors near Craig Airport who said they weren't happy to hear about less guidance from the ground for pilots who fly over their homes.


"We seen where that plane hit that house (in Palm Coast), we went by it and seen it. Kind of does make you wonder," said Glenn Harvey.
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:yikes:
 
EppyGA said:
Won't even think about signing that. Learn to fly without the freakin tower.
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Jeez, tough crowd! I'm not signing it either, though.

Randy, I learned to fly at LZU in 1995, before any tower, so I was mildly entertained to see it on the bullsh^H^H^H closure list.
 
Silvaire said:
Funny but all I've seen is a pdf file of a list of towers that "could" be closed.
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Apparently the airport managers of the affected sites have received the pink-slips for the intended april 5th closures. Dont think there is a published list of the ones that actually received notice.
 
Jps19602002@mac.com said:
You guys are sad. You are obviously not based at field in a busy airspace almost under a Class Charlie with two flight schools and numerous transient aircraft coming in an out. On weekends, we probably have 3 or 4 in the pattern and several trying to keep up their instrument rating. Probably have over 6-700 T/O and Landings on Weekends. I can understand why 50-70% of the fields on the list are there as I have flown into several but KHFD is one that I would keep open or there will be more accidents. It would even be ok to cut the hours and close on some weekdays rather than outright closure.
Click to expand...

You're right, I'm instead based at a field in a busy airspace which is ACTUALLY (not "almost") under Class B, ADJACENT that same LAX Class B, with a LOC approach that takes me THROUGH class B surface area, as well as being under proposed Class C, and adjacent 3 class D airports (touching 1 of them). The tower is proposed to leave, and I support the notion for the reasons stated here already.

I'm willing to take my dose of reduced government services with the rest of my countrymen. I imagine that some of our fellow citizens are losing out on more important things than "I get to talk to a 6-figure-ni''a before I taxi my aircraft out for a $150/hr flight today -- he tells me which way to drive my aero-mo-plane while it is on the ground". I can't imagine explaining to them, with a straight face, that I deserve a manned control tower for my hobby, and that the subject is worthy of attention all the way up to the white house.

Tighten the belt and hang on -- there are tons of things we mooch from the system currently, and this reckoning is gonna get worse before it gets better.
 
rpadula said:
Jeez, tough crowd! I'm not signing it either, though.

Randy, I learned to fly at LZU in 1995, before any tower, so I was mildly entertained to see it on the bullsh^H^H^H closure list.
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The EAA Chapter held a Young Eagle rally there before the tower and flew over 600 YE's in one day. Oh, and no one crashed. ;)
 
Of the towered fields in MI that are slated to close (all in Class D airspace), the only two that I would have signed a petition to keep open are KDET and KMKG -- 10 years ago, that is. (I've never been to KBTL or KSAW, so I don't really have an opinion on those.)

10 years ago DET was a thriving field with lots of freight ops as well as flight training (I soloed there). Today it is practically dead, with maybe 5 operations per hour during daylight hours. I think its tower's days were numbered even before sequestration.

I haven't been to MKG in over 10 years, although back then it was fairly busy. The one thing I wonder about the tower closing is how that will affect its TRSA status. Will the TRACON continue even though there is no tower? Are there any other TRACONs that are centered at a non-towered field?

I'd sign a petition to keep open any of the following towers: KAZO, KMBS, KYIP, KTVC, and especially KPTK. All Deltas. But none of them are on the closure list.

It seems to me maybe the FAA got this one right.
 
Just be careful what we wish for. I'm sure some of the 190 airports don't need towers, and everyone here seems good closing them all. But the next thing some politician will get the idea to stop federal funds for any airport with less than 300 or 500 or 700 operations a day. Next it will be to close airports that don't have commercial services....and on and on until the GA infrastructure is gone in this country.
 
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