The list is out and OSHKOSH tower is on the list of tower to be closed !!!! If other arrangements are not make that's going to be fun this summer !
The list is out and OSHKOSH tower is on the list of tower to be closed !!!! If other arrangements are not make that's going to be fun this summer !
Oshkosh is probably like many towers that aren't really justified by traffic most or part of the year. There isn't even airline service into Osh, like there used to be.
I would imagine that they can and will staff the tower on a temporary basis for the week or 10 days around Airventure.
And probably the same at Sun N Fun.
Last edited by Bill Greenwood; 03-22-2013 at 03:05 PM.
The closure of Oshkosh Tower will NOT adversely effect AirVenture. The controllers for the event are brought in under a separate arrangement and are for the most part unrelated from the year-round contract tower here. There WILL be ATC at the convention. See you here in July!
Tom Charpentier
Government Relations Director
EAA Lifetime #1082006 | Vintage #722921
We all breath a sigh of relief!Originally Posted by Tom Charpentier
Wonder what's going to happen at SUN n FUN this year since Lakeland is on the closure list.
Bill
David,
In Chicago, they always lay-off the garbage collectors first, then the teachers and then the public safety people. That way they get the maximum public outrage the quickest. In this situation, both party's agreed not to agree and voted for the sequester in an attempt to put pressure on the "other guy". Now their dancing around blaming the "other guy". In the publics' view of aviation, "closing towers" scares the stuff out of them, since they have no idea what airspace classification is or how it works. The average guy on the street will be thinking that flying from O'Hare to JFK will be "uncontrolled". We know that the first mid-air will probably not involve a big commercial airliner, but maybe a little regional jet with some guy in a Skyhawk flying into a Class D on a Saturday morning. The press will have a field day and the bunch in D.C. will point fingers and hold hearings.
Now as far as that new tower construction for 2014, that is a different budget within the FAA. They are currently scrambling to deal with this years current operating budget, but I'm sure that at some point the "capital improvement budget" will come under the knife. That means a push-out of Next-Gen and a slow down on building brick and mortar facilities of any kind.
Joe
SnF has announced they will have controllers too. They handle show traffic similar to the way we do.
One general comment from our end on this subject - while we understand the debate here on the necessity of towers at many airports (and having learned to fly at a busy untowered field myself, I definitely see both sides of the coin), the real story here is that GA is getting hit disproportionately by these cuts. The towers are most visible, but it extends to services we rely on to fly and do business in aviation. Things like pilot/aircraft/medical certification will likely be slowed down by sequestration. While we always push for ways to reform the system and cut the red tape (chief among them our recent work on medical and Part 23 reform), the fact is at the present time our community requires certain FAA services that are vulnerable right now.
Last edited by Tom Charpentier; 03-22-2013 at 03:28 PM.
Tom Charpentier
Government Relations Director
EAA Lifetime #1082006 | Vintage #722921
The state of Florida will provide the funding for controllers during SnF.
I knew there was a reason I didn't get ADS-B right away. Maybe the requirement will be pushed off a few years, for those of us still flying G/A.
Anyone else notice, it seems the items cut, due to sequester, are used by or enjoyed by the people that actually pay taxes? Just haven't heard of the desert being cut from the free lunch. Too cynical?
After a quick cursory look at the list it appears that Texas and Wisconsin got hit disproportionately.
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