Air Traffic Control Tower Closings - 6 in Oklahoma

[venture]

The list is out as far as what airports are being targeted to be closed:

http://www.faa.gov/news/updates/medi..._Be_Closed.pdf

ADM Ardmore Municipal Ardmore OK
LAW Lawton-Fort Sill Regional Lawton OK
OUN University of Oklahoma Westheimer Norman OK
PWA Wiley Post Oklahoma City OK
SWO Stillwater Regional Stillwater OK
WDG Enid Wooding Regional Enid OK

Of lose listed, LAW is the only airport currently receiving scheduled commercial passenger service (American Eagle). Probably the more distressing one on there is going to be OUN. The airport is the 3rd busiest in the state with a significant amount of business and flight school activity.

Story in the Transcript today mentioned that the contract towers typically cost around $600K a year to operate and the FAA staffed towers well over a million a year.

[Plutonic Panda]

Wow, that sucks. I was going to take flight classes at OU next year. :/

[catch22]

Wow, that sucks. I was going to take flight classes at OU next year. :/

You can still fly without ATC. The airport itself is not closing.

[Plutonic Panda]

Okay, that's good to hear!

[OKCisOK4me]

You can still fly without ATC. The airport itself is not closing.

Yeah, I was gonna say...they can't close down the airports that are in use by the colleges for sports programs.

[OKCTalker]

I understand that the City of OKC will take over operations of the tower at Wiley Post Airport. The primary reason is that so many corporate jets are based there, and many of their insurance policies require the aircraft to be based at a towered airport. If the tower closes, they've gotta go, and it isn't as simple as moving your Citation to Will Rogers. I don't know but wouldn't be surprised if some ground leases for corporate hangars at Wiley Post don't have a clause stating that the "City must provide tower services," or something similar. Perhaps someone on here would know.

I'm sure that there are lots of details to work out between now and April 7 (salaries, benefits, chain of command, municipal liability, etc.), but Wiley Post was a contract (non-FAA) tower, so that may make the transition easier.

[venture]

Yeah, I was gonna say...they can't close down the airports that are in use by the colleges for sports programs.

Honestly, the airports are used by the sports programs for probably less than 1% of the total traffic. So that's not a good reason.

However, Catch22 is right on. This is just the control towers that are closing, not the airport. They'll become uncontrolled and pilots will follow those procedures.

[venture]

I understand that the City of OKC will take over operations of the tower at Wiley Post Airport. The primary reason is that so many corporate jets are based there, and many of their insurance policies require the aircraft to be based at a towered airport. If the tower closes, they've gotta go, and it isn't as simple as moving your Citation to Will Rogers. I don't know but wouldn't be surprised if some ground leases for corporate hangars at Wiley Post don't have a clause stating that the "City must provide tower services," or something similar. Perhaps someone on here would know.

I'm sure that there are lots of details to work out between now and April 7 (salaries, benefits, chain of command, municipal liability, etc.), but Wiley Post was a contract (non-FAA) tower, so that may make the transition easier.

I believe all (or nearly all) of the towers closing are contract towers.

[Bunty]

Stillwater Regional Airport officials fight to keep tower open » Local News » Stillwater NewsPress

[venture]

The final list came out today. 4 out of the original 6 towers proposed to be closed will be shut down.

http://www.faa.gov/news/media/fct_closed.pdf

Lawton, Norman, Wiley Post, and Stillwater will all be closed. Enid and Ardmore will be remaining open.

[OKCTalker]

Oklahoma closures: Lawton-Ft. Sill (LAW), Norman Westheimer (OUN), Oklahoma City Wiley Post (PWA) and Stillwater Regional (SWO).

I'm still under the perception that Wiley Post will remain open, funded by the City of OKC (see post 6 above). Has anyone heard one way or the other?

[HangryHippo]

How do they decide to keep Enid and Ardmore open and not Norman and Lawton? OU as you've said is the state's 3rd busiest airport, and Lawton sees regular commercial service. What was the reasoning behind the two they decided to leave open?

[venture]

How do they decide to keep Enid and Ardmore open and not Norman and Lawton? OU as you've said is the state's 3rd busiest airport, and Lawton sees regular commercial service. What was the reasoning behind the two they decided to leave open?

Hard to say unless they are public documents in the DOT's Docket system regarding the various appeals from cities. I really don't get why Enid and Ardmore though. The only thing I can think of why Enid would stay open is due to military traffic in the area, but that shouldn't be a major deal. Ardmore doesn't really have anything major in an out of it.

With respect to Norman, I wonder if the City or OU are willing to fork over the cash to keep it staffed. It would make sense, in my opinion, that OU cough up the money to keep it open since the vast majority of the air traffic is generated by them.

[Just the facts]

With respect to Norman, I wonder if the City or OU are willing to fork over the cash to keep it staffed. It would make sense, in my opinion, that OU cough up the money to keep it open since the vast majority of the air traffic is generated by them.

It will be interesting to see how many towns and cities want a staffed control tower once they have to pay for it out of their own pocket. It kind of makes you wonder why the Feds were picking up the bill at all for any of them.

[Jim Kyle]

How do they decide to keep Enid and Ardmore open and not Norman and Lawton? OU as you've said is the state's 3rd busiest airport, and Lawton sees regular commercial service. What was the reasoning behind the two they decided to leave open?

Seems simple to me: maximize the impact on the general public seems to be the policy of the executive branch. This definitely makes us aware...

[OKCTalker]

The only thing I can think of why Enid would stay open is due to military traffic in the area, but that shouldn't be a major deal.

I don't understand why WDG missed the axe. Vance AFB operates both the tower and approach control, and their aircraft rarely - if ever - use WDG. They stay within the MOAs or go to other airports for practice approaches. WDG used to have one or two commercial flights per day, but those are heavily-subsidized by the federal government and I'm not sure that even they're still operating.

[HangryHippo]

I guess this decision struck me as another example of the federal government making decisions that don't make any damn sense when there are more common sense solutions that would make so much more sense.

[MustangGT]

Interestingly many aviation insurers forbid aircraft they cover from flying into and out of uncontrolled aka non-tower contolled airports. It will be interesting for the jets based at Post.

[OKCTalker]

Incidentally, I have no problem with the closure of three of these four towers, Wiley Post being the exception (but a reprieve of sorts may be in the offing). Here's why:

1) There are approximately 19,700 airports in the US according to the FAA, and the overwhelming majority have no control tower;
2) Beginning with practically his first flight as a student, pilots are taught how to operate to/from uncontrolled (non-towered) airports;
3) The goal was to identify towered airports with the least activity, and generally speaking they appear to have succeeded (although there was little transparency, there are exceptions, and people are understandably wondering about the process); and
4) This is supposedly temporary - I'm hearing that all of the closed towers will return to operational status in September.

Due to the "sequester," FAA decided that closing 149 towers was the only way to make ends meet. I wholeheartedly disagree, but in the larger sense I agree that many airports can operation safely and productively without their control towers. If FAA can quickly close 149 towers, imagine what other cuts they can make without affecting operations, administration or performing their mission.

[venture]

I don't understand why WDG missed the axe. Vance AFB operates both the tower and approach control, and their aircraft rarely - if ever - use WDG. They stay within the MOAs or go to other airports for practice approaches. WDG used to have one or two commercial flights per day, but those are heavily-subsidized by the federal government and I'm not sure that even they're still operating.

No the commercial flights, which were over time operated by...Great Lakes, Mesa, and I think BigSky at one point, are long gone. The EAS subsidy is gone and it can't be added back. Much is the same for the air service that use to fly to Woodward, Ardmore, and McAlester.

It will be interesting to see how many towns and cities want a staffed control tower once they have to pay for it out of their own pocket. It kind of makes you wonder why the Feds were picking up the bill at all for any of them.

Well to be honest, general aviation is a major economic engine and something that needs to be encouraged. However, pilots are trained to operate in an out of uncontrolled air spaces starting back during ground school. However, it does turn into a safety risk when you have a significant number of movements per day.

Incidentally, I have no problem with the closure of three of these four towers, Wiley Post being the exception (but a reprieve of sorts may be in the offing). Here's why:

1) There are approximately 19,700 airports in the US according to the FAA, and the overwhelming majority have no control tower;
2) Beginning with practically his first flight as a student, pilots are taught how to operate to/from uncontrolled (non-towered) airports;
3) The goal was to identify towered airports with the least activity, and generally speaking they appear to have succeeded (although there was little transparency, there are exceptions, and people are understandably wondering about the process); and
4) This is supposedly temporary - I'm hearing that all of the closed towers will return to operational status in September.

Due to the "sequester," FAA decided that closing 149 towers was the only way to make ends meet. I wholeheartedly disagree, but in the larger sense I agree that many airports can operation safely and productively without their control towers. If FAA can quickly close 149 towers, imagine what other cuts they can make without affecting operations, administration or performing their mission.

That really makes no sense why you would consider Wiley Post more worthy than the others. LAW actually has commercial service. OUN has all the state aircraft based at it now as well. A case can be made for each.

[OKCTalker]

Venture - Let me elaborate a bit. The City of OKC has long made it a policy to direct general aviation aircraft to Wiley Post so that Will Rogers can serve commercial operators (airlines, freight, maintenance and a little bit of corporate/charter/fractional). Corporate flight departments accepted PWA because of its control tower, which was a requirement for insurance underwriters. If the tower would go away, then the corporate jet owners are in a dilemma caused - indirectly - by the City of OKC, which has the burden of making this right by underwriting tower operations at PWA. Don't forget - these are temporary closures. I've heard no-one including FAA Administrator Huerta say that they are permanent: "The closures of the contract towers will begin April 7 and continue for the next four weeks on a phased basis, the FAA said."

Yes, a case can be made for each airport, but in the big picture I support less government spending. I think that the FAA was puntatitve in their application of budget cuts, and sought the most highly-visible means of "inflicting pain" on the public - closing 149 towers which are now on the front pages of 149+ newspapers around the country this morning including ours. I'd like to see the direct savings as a result of these closures, and the other things that FAA is doing to cut 5% ($637 million) from their budget.

[venture]

Your move Oklahoma.

TxDOT Intends to Fund Air Traffic Control Services in Texas to Ensure Continued Safety of Air Passengers

AUSTIN – In an effort to ensure safety at 13 municipal airports in Texas, the Texas Department of Transportation today said it intends to fund continued service of air traffic controllers when federal funding goes away as a result of sequestration, or budget cuts. This action is pending Texas Transportation Commission approval and will be acted upon in an emergency session next week. The action would enable continued service for 13 airports.

[BoulderSooner]

There was/is no reason to close any towers. The FAA had to cut 4% of its budget. And has known about it for over a year

[venture]

Well done President Boren.

OU to keep airport tower open » New and Developing » The Norman Transcript

NORMAN — Transcript StaffUniversity of Oklahoma President David L. Boren today announced that OU will provide bridge funding to keep the Max Westheimer Tower open and operating until budget issues are resolved in Washington.
Non-appropriated auxiliary funds will be used by the University to provide the resources to staff the tower from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

[thundersooner]

I don't understand why WDG missed the axe. Vance AFB operates both the tower and approach control, and their aircraft rarely - if ever - use WDG. They stay within the MOAs or go to other airports for practice approaches. WDG used to have one or two commercial flights per day, but those are heavily-subsidized by the federal government and I'm not sure that even they're still operating.

Actually, Vance jets use woodring in Enid several times a day.