3/22/13 14 Southern California air traffic control towers may close due to sequestration - latimes.com

www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-airport-tower-shutdown-20130322,0,6350227.story 1/4

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Experts say the closures could increase risks of collisions in the air and on the ground.Facilities, including those at Palmdale, Oxnard and Lancaster, could be shuttered by April 7.

By Laura J. Nelson, Los Angeles Times

March 22, 2013

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14 Southern California air traffic control towersmay close due to sequestration

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Most days, about two dozen student pilots circle over

downtown Riverside, taking cues on takeoffs, landings and

the position of other planes from the air traffic controllers at

the city airport.

"They're an extra set of eyes on the runway," flight instructor

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Possible airport tower closures in So.California

Th e con tr ol tow er a t Riv er side Mu n icipa l A ir por t is on e of th e m a n y tow er s a cr oss th e cou n tr y th a t

cou ld be sh u t dow n beca u se of sequ estr a t ion . (Ma r k Boster / Los A n g eles Tim es / Ma r ch 2 1 , 2 01 3 )

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3/22/13 14 Southern California air traffic control towers may close due to sequestration - latimes.com

www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-airport-tower-shutdown-20130322,0,6350227.story 2/4

Jose Gonzalez said. "When you're new, that's pretty

important."

But the guiding voices from the airport tower could go silent

within weeks. The Federal Aviation Administration is

expected to decide Friday whether to shut down as many as

238 air traffic control towers across the country, including

23 in California, as part of a plan to trim $600 million under

the federal government's forced spending cuts, known as

sequestration. The towers would close April 7.

Southern California could lose 14 towers at airports in

Palmdale, Pacoima, Victorville, Oxnard, Fullerton, Lancaster

and elsewhere that handle civil, commercial and military

flights. Also on the list is Santa Monica Airport, which will be

considered in a later round of cuts.

Hundreds of airports across the nation have long operated

without control towers, depending instead on

communication between pilots over short-wave radios. But

losing so many control towers in an airspace like Southern

California's, which sees tens of millions of flights a year,

increases the risk of collision in the air and on the ground,

experts say.

"The work of air traffic controllers is a very necessary layer

of safety." said Bob Spencer, a spokesman for the L.A.

County Department of Public Works, which operates six of

the region's airports. "This is a densely populated area with

heavily trafficked skies."

The FAA is targeting towers at airports with less than

150,000 takeoffs and landings and less than 10,000

commercial flights a year. Those that don't serve "the

national interest" will close, the FAA said in a letter to those

facilities.

A majority of towers facing closure are FAA-certified but are

operated by private contractors. Contract towers make up

nearly half of the nation's towers and handle about 30% of the air traffic.

Contract towers coordinate flights for corporate jets, military cargo planes and regional airlines.

Some, including Lancaster's General William J. Fox Airfield, house fleets of emergency response

planes and helicopters that take off and land in rapid succession during disasters. Many coordinate

with larger airports, such as Los Angeles International and John Wayne, so planes from different

runways don't collide in shared airspace.

The FAA expects to save up to $50 million this year by closing contract towers, FAA Administrator

Michael Huerta has told Congress. The agency accounts for just 20% of the Transportation

Department's budget but is being asked to absorb 60% of the cuts. Most of the agency's budget is

exempt from the mandatory reductions.

Spencer Dickerson, head of the U.S. Contract Tower Assn., said lawmakers have made control

towers the "poster child of sequestration" because airline safety is an emotional issue for many

Americans. He said closing so many towers would jeopardize safety.

Huerta told Congress the FAA would not do anything that wasn't safe. But for uncontrolled airports

to be as safe as airports with towers, they must run more slowly, he said — particularly when weather

or visibility is bad and only one plane can land or take off at a time.

Efficiency matters most at times of crisis, said Spencer, the county public works spokesman.

Whiteman Airport in Pacoima houses media helicopters that cover police chases, wildfires and

manhunts. The U.S. Forest Service's fleet of water tankers has used Fox Airfield for more than 40

years. When fires break out, dozens of helicopters take off within minutes.

The contract tower at Southern California Logistics, a 2,500-acre airport in Victorville, directs

heavy military and commercial traffic. Boeing 747s being towed into maintenance sheds cross the

same runway where more than 30,000 U.S. Army troops land each year.

"It takes a long time for an aircraft to cross a runway," airport manager Eric Ray said. "There's a lot

more time for things to go south." Losing their tower would be devastating to business because some

companies will land only at airfields with towers.

Riverside Municipal helps its pilots navigate air traffic from March Air Reserve Base, which is 12

miles away. Four flight schools use the airport's two intersecting runways, and a fifth is opening this

fall.

Airport director Mark Ripley has run an uncontrolled airport in the past. Safety isn't impossible, he

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3/22/13 14 Southern California air traffic control towers may close due to sequestration - latimes.com

www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-airport-tower-shutdown-20130322,0,6350227.story 3/4

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said. It's just much harder.

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Comments (36) Add / View comments | Discussion FAQ

scottfree1 at 11:27 AM March 22, 2013

God forbid their be fewer guys standing around with binoculars and CB radio's. What's nextto go?Not the The Public Health Service Commission Corps was created in the late 1800s toprovide health care to merchant seamen, now costs $100+ million treating merchantseaman as if they were military reserve, rank, pensions, 20 retirement, who cares that theyhave not been part of the military since 1952.Not the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) $300 million are to provide electricty &phone service to rural areas? Really, who exactly doesn't have electricity and phone servicein 2013?What would we do without the Natural Resource Conservation Service was set up in 1935 tohelp farmers minimize soil erosion. Today, this 12,000-person agency has 2,500 fieldoffices and costs taxpayers $800 million per year. Yet the U.S. General Accounting Office(GAO) has found zero difference in soil erosion between areas that participate in theprogram and those that don't.

Nobaloney at 11:14 AM March 22, 2013

Cut away. These little airports are a drain on the economy anyway as they are highlysubsidized by the federal government.

bobharris57 at 10:49 AM March 22, 2013

wow.. they can only find 14 towers to close in So Cal? Heck I can do better than that. Closethem all except for LAX, SNA, BUR, SAN and possibly VNY.won't miss a beat.

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