Simviation Forums

http://www.flyingmag.com/news/faa-lists ... MTgyMTIxS0

Many of the closures come as a big surprise for me!... ...!

Reasons?; Money, Politics, etc...

Paul.

Childish bickering over the budget.

"If you don't give me everything I want, you'll be sorry!” - POTUS.

The people in this country used to politely disagree over politics. Now? That’s over.

Perhaps it would be a better place if all elected officials (conservative and liberals), from governors up, worked from within prison cells. After they had served their time in office (and jail) we would vote again to see if they had earned parole.

KBUF is going to have nobody on duty at night, but they're saying it shouldn't be a problem. Buffalo isn't exactly the busiest airport, especially late at night, so the handful of GA and airline flights shouldn't have a problem getting in or out.

Honestly, the majority of the towers being closed will not affect anything as those airports do not receive all that much traffic. It is a scare tactic being used by the politicos. I know several of the airports listed, and they might have a couple of dozen planes all day long.

KBJC (Rocky Mountain Metropolitan) and KFTG (Front Range Airport) are the two that are being closed here in CO.

Like Dave alluded to, those airports don't see a large amount of traffic (like KAPA - Centennial) but it's a shame that it came down to closing them; I don't like to see folks out of work. Any way you put it, it's a detriment to GA here in the US.

Suffice to say... my five year old niece and eight year old nephew have more compassion, common sense and character than ANY of the elected members of our Legislative branch, and have more integrity, too.

The tower right here across the parking lot from WACO Classic at KBTL is closing as are 4 other Michigan towers including the Muskegon tower (KMKG). KMKG is the field I spent most of time at as a kid. The tower at the field my dad used to fly out of in the UP also is closing.

Oshkosh tower, Plant 42, Edwards AFB, and the tower servicing Sun N Fun are also closing.

The KBTL (W. K. Kellogg) tower closer is bad because the Air National Guard squadron here is losing their aircraft AND fire response team....so this means KBTL will no longer have a tower or fire response. To make that even better, the Western Michigan University College of Aviation here on-field has a very large number of flights per-day but the rumor is the school legally must use a field with a tower and a fire dept as its base of operations. In other words, the largest aviation school in Michigan is being put in a very tough spot and has no other field to base ops out of. Their fleet is over 2 dozen active aircraft plus a good sized maintenance school AND a ATC school!

We are all a little worried here. WACO does not need the tower or fire dept, but without the ANG and if the COA is forced out this field loses ~3/4 of its flight ops....which puts the field in jeopardy.


The really sad bits are that the tower could just drop ops to only day-light hours and all would be good. The ANG squadron here already lost the A-10s a few years ago and proposals to have military aircraft based here included C-27J Spartans, C-130s, and Predator/Reaper UAVs....all have been denied and "THEY" chose instead to ditch the Battle Creek ANG...never mind the Battle Creek ANG has been a part of the community for many decades.

My two cents, some towers yes can close without issue. Some though, should just cut back on hours.

I can't say I've flown into any of the airports, and I'm not sure how busy or non-busy they are, but I do wonder, will these airports now become Mandatory Frequencies, Unicom's, or just total free-for-all's? Because sometimes it just makes more sense for some airports to have an MF instead of a tower, or even a Unicom.

But some airfields are digging their heels in...>>>

http://www.flyingmag.com/news/felts-fie ... NDY0MDI5S0

Paul.

In Miami-Dade County, North Perry and Opa Locka, these are small airports, I think they can handle this. Miami Intl, KMIA, way too busy, they couldn't. Also Kendall Tamiami, KTMA is busy, another couldn't.

Latest on closures....

..another short delay to make sure things are done right?..... ....hopefully....>>>

http://www.flyingmag.com/news/faa-delay ... MDE3MjgzS0

Paul.

KBTL was saved! The city of Battle Creek stepped up to foot the bill for the tower albeit it will now only be open from 8am-8pm which is frankly what it should have always been.

Thank you BattleCreek!!!