Airport Towers Close Under Forced US Budget Cuts

March 28, 2013

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration will close 149 air traffic control towers beginning in early April as part of mandatory spending cuts designed to trim millions of dollars from its budget. Transportation officials say the budget cuts to civil aviation will not compromise safety on the ground or in the skies. A community outside Washington where some think shutting down a newly-built control tower is a mistake.

Air traffic controllers at the Frederick, Maryland, airport will no longer guide pilots around this busy airspace. Under mandatory federal government spending cuts, this control tower - like 148 others at smaller airports across the country - is closing.

"For the tower to close we really would be treading backwards here," said airport manager Kevin Daugherty. He said closing the control tower strips away an extra layer of safety at Maryland's second-busiest airport.

"When you have corporate jets mixing in with flight training traffic, gliders, helicopters, it could be a mess. So that is the reason why the air traffic control tower was built here and opened," said Daugherty.

Shuttering a new tower

The government recently spent more than $5 million to build the tower, which opened last year. Now frustration is growing among contract controllers, like Mamie Ambrose, who are losing their jobs.