5 airport control towers in state get the ax due to federal budget cuts
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RENTON, Wash. -- The gauntlet fell on five air traffic control towers in Washington Friday when the FAA released the list of 149 towers it will close across the country starting next month, due to those automatic federal government budget cuts.
One of those towers is at the Renton Municipal Airport, where large and small aircraft share runway space
Pilots radio air the traffic controller, who tells them who goes next. But this tower and four others in our state will close as part of the government's requirement to trim $600 million from its budget.
"It will still be safe," said Pro-Flight Aviation owner Diane Paholke. "The pilots know how to talk to each other in the air, but it was a greater deal of safety with the control tower."
Paholke says it's like a busy intersection with a four-way stop, when you'd rather have a stoplight controlling the traffic.
And the Renton airport is unique since it's surrounded by hillsides full of homes.
"And so we have variations in altitude that you don't have a normal airport that you really need a tower to back you up on," Paholke said.
That worries some locals.
"I mean, someone's going to have to with those (737)'s taking off," said Connie Morris. "I mean, Boeing's going to have to have to get an air control person in the tower or keep the airport municipal."
Boeing 737s come and go from Renton but the company says it's operations will go on as normal using protocol already established.
The tower at Yakima Air Terminal will also close. Horizon Air, which flies three round trips a day into Yakima, tells passengers not to worry. Pilots are trained to handle it.
Spokane is the second tower in Eastern Washington on the closure list. The Walla Walla and Moses Lake towers remain open at this time.
In Western Washington, the airport towers at Renton, Tacoma Narrows and Olympia are closing under this cut Friday. Everett's Paine Field remains open.
One of those towers is at the Renton Municipal Airport, where large and small aircraft share runway space
Pilots radio air the traffic controller, who tells them who goes next. But this tower and four others in our state will close as part of the government's requirement to trim $600 million from its budget.
"It will still be safe," said Pro-Flight Aviation owner Diane Paholke. "The pilots know how to talk to each other in the air, but it was a greater deal of safety with the control tower."
Paholke says it's like a busy intersection with a four-way stop, when you'd rather have a stoplight controlling the traffic.
And the Renton airport is unique since it's surrounded by hillsides full of homes.
"And so we have variations in altitude that you don't have a normal airport that you really need a tower to back you up on," Paholke said.
That worries some locals.
"I mean, someone's going to have to with those (737)'s taking off," said Connie Morris. "I mean, Boeing's going to have to have to get an air control person in the tower or keep the airport municipal."
Boeing 737s come and go from Renton but the company says it's operations will go on as normal using protocol already established.
The tower at Yakima Air Terminal will also close. Horizon Air, which flies three round trips a day into Yakima, tells passengers not to worry. Pilots are trained to handle it.
Spokane is the second tower in Eastern Washington on the closure list. The Walla Walla and Moses Lake towers remain open at this time.
In Western Washington, the airport towers at Renton, Tacoma Narrows and Olympia are closing under this cut Friday. Everett's Paine Field remains open.
We can give 10 billion to egypt, hundreds of billions to Afganistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and close down local air towers because of a reduction in increases.What part of this is rediculous???
Oh but Mr. Obama has money for a Easter Egg Hunt on the White House lawn.
Obama and his appointees and their respective departments have been told to cut where the public would feel the pain and hurt the most. It doesn't make sense, but they want us to blame the other side for these cuts. The truth is they could cut frivolous programs instead. I wonder if the federal government will be sued if life is lost or in the case of illegals being let out of the prison systems, they commit a crime. It's interesting to say the least.
All the pilots interviewed that use these rinky dink airports say that this is no big deal and that they are trained for this. Frankly, I don't understand why the feds are even paying to staff such tiny local airports. Seems like a local concern. If the locals want to fund it, they will as it affect them, not D.C.
So, let me get this straight, America can't afford to CUT SUBSIDIES TO EXXON, BP and other oil companies, BUT CAN AFFORD TO CUT AND CLOSE TOWERS, that are in place for safe air travel. Â Congress needs to be fired. Â
@Slingerss What "subsidies" are those?
PS: I don't like subsidies either but there is a difference between a subsidy and legitimate deductions for business expense.
Now if we could just cut out the REAL subsides to the Unicorn Phahrt "Green" Energy Grift, we could be saving some real money and maybe feed the starving staffers at the office of DW Schultz-
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/mar/22/debbie-wasserman-schultz-sequester-nearly-starving/
Let's be a little realistic for a moment. The airspace designated for an operating control tower is shaped like a can of tuna...ten miles in diameter and 2500 feet thick, centered on the airport. An airplane more than five miles from the airport and/or above 2500 feet above field elevation is not the responsibility of a tower controller. In the specific case of Renton, its airspace butts up against that of Boeing Field over Beacon Hill, so it is not a complete circle. When Renton goes dark, I assume that Boeing's airspace will simply expand eastward to overlie Renton Municipal, and Boeing controllers will have dominion over that airspace. Hard to see through Beacon Hill, however, so they will lose visual contact with landing/departing traffic.Â
There are over 14000 airports in the US and fewer than 700 have towers, so I'm pretty sure that pilots will be able to handle the closures.
@bobmrg  Excellent post. You've probably brought some relief to many worried residents.
So a 600 million dollar "cut" (really just a reduction in growth) Â in a 58 billion dollar budget must mean shutting down towers? Stinks to high heaven.
OK. So here is what we could do to free up one TRILLION in budget dollars right now. The best part. Nothing gets cut and no new taxes.
Think I'm lying? Think that isn't true?
This is what happens. Lets say there is a federal project. It could be anything. It could be say a life saving medical device to be used in the field of combat or to use LongBeachBum's line below, research of fat lesbians.
Lets say our Project X costs $100 million each. So the government allocates $100 million for some device that converts shrapnel in a wound to glucose and saline and another $100 million on why fat lesbians are unhappy on Fridays.
Lets say the first project costs only $60 million. There is $40 million left over. Lets say the other project gets killed after $23 million spent.
So you would think $40 million plus $77 million goes back into the federal coffers. Right? That money was spent.
Wrong. Because the money was earmarked for that specific project. There it sits. On the books. FOREVER. A law was passed in the 80's that basically was meant for the very reasonable idea that money allocated for X can only be spent on X.
There is over one trillion dollars, with a T, on the federal books right now, in a multitude of accounts and spreadsheets, that are allocated to projects that came in under budget, were axed, or were replace by another project (so ironically when the replacement project was made the money for the killed project just sits).
Congress could, with little more than a stroke of a pen, amend the law, to simply say, "hey, if a project is cancelled or money is left over after a project is completed, those unspent funds go into the general fund."
That would result in over one trillion back in the coffers. Look it up.
So why not do it? Follow the money.
Hint...if you give a bank $1000 they can loan out $10,000 on it. They are allowed a 1:10 ratio on the leveraged money. Think about what would happen if the US banking industry suddenly had to cough up one trillion in assets, meaning they would have to cover up to TEN TRILLION in written paper on the back of those assets.
One Hell of a system we have, isn't it. Who runs America??? Hint, it isn't "the people."
They probably didn't need replacing in the first place. Let Boeing replace the Renton tower.
Don't you just love our government??? They are happy to study the mating habits of spiders or fat lesbians, but they cut the funding to a vital part of an airport, the control tower. They would rather put people at risk rather than cut funding to so many stupid and useless studies or construction projects to reward their contributors.Â
The plan to make minuscule cuts in the growth of the federal goverment as painful as possible proceeds apace. At lease no more criminals have been released to prey on a populace too stubborn to recognize that the Lightworker knows how to handle money better than the people who earn it.
All air travel operations need to be operated by those who use them, NOT government. It should be the responsibility of the airlines to operate the towers and airport facilities. We all see the mess that government port authorities and the federal ATS have made of air travel.
I no longer fly as I'll not have some hood in a uniform frisk me and threaten me.
@contraryjim Great ! i wish some more would stay home with you.
I am sure there are controllers there during the day but as the day turns into night, there isn't anyone at the tower in Renton. Usually it's just a recording of the runway to use, the wind speed, direction etc. I feel bad that the controllers won't be there during the day and hope the FAA or someone moves them so they don't lose their job but other than that, there is no need for them to be there to coach down the one or few planes that land there.Â
How about Obama takes one less trip per month?
@Mumblix Grumph Then you can complain he is an isolationist who stays in Washington. *
Anyway, I thought the GOP talking points when Sequestration started was, "it ain't no big thing, it's not even a budget cut."
* NOT an Obama fan or voter but haters got to hate regardless of party.
@Mumblix Grumph And less golf outings
Fewer, not less. Outings are individual items, therefore you would use the word fewer. You could say, "I play less golf. I have had far fewer outings this year."
@Mumblix Grumph HA HA I agree he and the family take way to many trips. Even one trip less and he could reopen the White House Tors and still have money left over to keep a few towers open!
Ending tax cuts for Exxon will restore these programs. Just the tip of the economic common sense ice berg.
I'm not surprised KOLM and KTIW are losing their tower coverage. Traffic at both airports is less than at many untowered fields, and line-ups are pretty rare. Somewhat surprised about KRNT though. It's a pretty busy place.
Stay safe my fellow private pilots and remember to watch for wake turbulence when the 737's take off!!
My husband is a pilot and I go along most of the time. Our home airport is Olympia (KOLM) and I am really going to miss the controllers. They have helped us a few times (engine trouble resulting in a precautionary landing and bad weather boxing us in) We have also flown into Renton many times and since SeaTac is right there it can be stressful even with a controller so I can't imagine it without. Most of these airports still really benefit from having an open tower.
As I pilot I can say if it's a small airport then no issues. I flew during my training all the time into an un towered airport without incident. Having a tower at a small airport in my view is just a waste of FAA funds!!! Airport where I use to live even had US Air Flying into it and for long time no tower and no incidents even with commercial airline flying in and out on a regular basis through out the day!
I don't own a plane, but it seems to me that losing a control tower would cause insurance rates to increase for those who own aircraft at the field.
So bogus!
Ah, the taste of austerity.
@Travis Hartnett More like the fraud of austerity.  Obama releasing prisoners and closing traffic control towers are pure scare tactics.  He wants to scare the public into believing that austerity is causing these things, instead of really making strides to cut government waste . This administration and the previous one are nothing but criminals. Â
@sfvcyco @Travis Hartnett  Refresh my memory. Who was it exactly that put the fraud of two unfunded pointless stupid wars on our economy? And now you blame Obama?
@tufa23 @sfvcyco @Travis Hartnett  Who said the republicans did better? Bothparties have taken turns and are corrupt.
http://www.usdebtclock.org/index.html
@tufa23
 Total cost of both wars? $1.435T
http://costofwar.com/
Total debt increase under Obama? Six or seven trillion, but who's counting? Â Total US debt $17T. So yes, Obama is to blame for his share. Just as Bush is to blame for his.
Does anyone not see through Obama's charade? Let's see, he just promised to give $200 million to the Muslim Brotherhood, Biden spent a million dollars for two days in Europe and thank God the multi million dollar studies of Lesbian drinking and duck penises made the cut.
http://now.msn.com/duck-penis-study-cost-395000-dollars
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2998398/posts?page=73
@Goodwin You might want to fact check what you state AS FACT:   Obama DID NOT promise 200 million to the Muslim Brotherhood.   But nice try at a RIGHT SLANT SPIN..........
http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/no-the-president-is-not-giving-1-5-billion-to-the-muslim-brotherhood/
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@Sanctuary
Interesting, the sober and measured  reasoning. I don't suppose the ilk of Gates,the Waltons, their companies and shareholders are responsible for billions flowing into the public treasury, are they?Â
When you say we (as in, "if we don't pay"), can you tell what your income tax bill will be this April?
@Goodwin I think, if a plane crashes due to "having to make it hurt," and someone dies, it's worthy of a lawsuit against the Federal Government. If a necessity is cut, that endangers the public, and their ever incessant spending on other things (I.E. unnecessary trips, golf games, unnecessary "studies and projects") keeps going, they would be guilty of gross negligence, and manslaughter. This could bite them in the ass in a GOOD way for the American Public. This whole "sequester" gig is such a tiny drop in the bucket in comparison to the whole spectrum of our financial mess it's not funny, and you hit the nail on the head. It's Obama's way of pitching a damn temper tantrum because he didn't get his way. Make it hurt for US, while him and his keep on their merry ways. This man is nothing more than a traitor to our country, and needs to be removed from office. There ARE grounds for impeachment.
@Takamine @Goodwin Impeachment?  I mean REALLY, where do you come up with this stuff?  He was voted IN by a DEMOCRACY..........Get over it already.Â
And the sun will rise tomorrow and all is well...
As the cuts go deeper, the fat falls away
@komoispropaganda Unless you are a military contractor building weapons of war, no changes there.