Victor Miasnikowicz, president of Venture Jets, sits inside the cockpit of a jet at Lancaster Airport, which will lose its air traffic control tower next month.
(Marty Heisey/Staff)
Pilot John Calla knows that every move he makes is being watched.
As Calla's plane is taxiing on the runway in preparation for takeoff, an air traffic controller with an overhead view of the Lancaster Airport grabs the radio to make sure Calla is aware another plane is about to cross his path.
But that safety net is disappearing.
The air-traffic tower at Lancaster Airport is scheduled to shut down May 5 as the Federal Aviation Administration tightens its budget under sequestration.
And although the airport will continue to operate as usual after the tower closes, local pilots acknowledge that it's always safer having an extra pair of eyes in the sky keeping watch over a runway that logs more than 90,000 landings and takeoffs a year.
"Would I rather have a tower there? Sure," said Calla, an instructor at Adventure Flight Training, a business that contributes to the airport's traffic. "You always want additional safety up there, but it's done at other airports."
All pilots are trained to manage takeoffs and landings without help by tuning into a specific radio frequency where they can communicate with other pilots in the area.
There is little doubt among local pilots, however, that stripping away the extra layer of safety during the most critical stages of flight increases risk.
"This means pilots needs to be that much more vigilant in what we do, when we do it and how we do it," said Dorn Clare, vice president of Henry Weber Aircraft. "It's simply a see-and-avoid procedure."
Presently, seven air traffic controllers take turns manning the Lancaster Airport tower from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day.
The controllers not only guide pilots but update them on weather conditions. They monitor radar and check on beeps that alert them that aircraft may be too close to each other.
Clare, who has been flying planes in and out of Lancaster since 1974, said his chief concern at the airport stems from its mix of small private planes and larger passenger aircraft that often converge on its airfields at different speeds and using different procedures.
The airport is home to a variety of aircraft operated by a wide array of experienced pilots, including charter helicopters flown by veteran pilots, commercial jets flown by professional pilots and single-engine planes flown by flight students.
Controllers keep those planes safely separated and sequenced for landings. During the summer, the airport can handle 40 to 60 landings and takeoffs an hour.
"A good way to look at it is this: Would you rather rely on stop signs at a busy intersection or a traffic light?" Calla asked.
Victor Miasnikowicz, president of Venture Jets, said the controllers provide crucial guidance that helps speed up operations.
The ability to leave quickly is a key part of his business, which must be ready at all times to transport organ donations to patients in critical need.
"The controllers have a hand in what we do, and to not have them there will mean longer wait times to get where we need to go," said Miasnikowicz, who has been a pilot for 25 years.
David Eberly, airport director, said he is still holding out hope that FAA officials will evaluate the true ramifications of closing so many towers.
"No one thinks this is a good idea. It's really opening airports up to possible disaster," he said.
There are 149 towers nationwide that will lose federal funding in an attempt to help offset FAA's $637 million budget reduction.
The cuts are not likely to impact commercial flights. The 149 contract towers handle less than 20 percent of all airport operations nationwide, but less than 2.5 percent of commercial operations, the FAA said in a press release.
The Smoketown Airport, the county's second-busiest airfield, operates without a controller. An airport official said the facility has less than 5,000 operations a year.
Story and Photo: http://lancasteronline.com
No comments:
Post a Comment