Fullerton Airport to loose tower due to budget cuts

The control tower at the Fullerton Airport is among 149 that will close beginning April 7, the Federal Aviation Administration announced Friday.

Earlier this month, the FAA said it would close 189 air traffic control towers as part of $637 million in cuts required under budget sequestration. The FAA tower closures will save up to $50 million this year.

A control tower dominates the compact Fullerton Municipal Airport.

(Photo by H. Lorren Au Jr., Orange County Register)

 

"We heard from communities across the country about the importance of their towers, and these were very tough decisions," said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood in a statement. "Unfortunately, we are faced with a series of difficult choices that we have to make to reach the required cuts under sequestration."

 

The 80-strong Fullerton Airport Pilots Association had sent a letter to the FAA and state and federal elected officials pleading their case about keeping the tower open.

 

The closure will cost Fullerton $35,000 a month, the amount the FAA paid the city to lease the tower, said Don Hoppe, Fullerton's engineering director who oversees the airport. Officials could opt to keep the tower manned by paying controllers from the general fund, Hoppe said, but the cost would be about $375,000 annually.

"I don't think the city is interested in losing that revenue," he said.
There were 11 Southern California airport towers closed, including ones in Riverside, Victorville and Lancaster.

When the controllers do leave Fullerton, sometime in April or early May, pilots flying in and out will have to be a little more patient.

Planes will have to move into a so-called "one in, one out" procedure, FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said Friday. That means only one aircraft can be on approach to – or departing from – the airport at any given time.

"The procedures we use for operations at uncontrolled airports are perfectly safe but much less efficient than at airports with staffed control towers," Gregor said.

Upon departure, pilots will be required to call an FAA traffic control center in San Diego to receive authorization to take off and discuss routing information to their destination. Pilots then will switch to a universal frequency used by other planes flying in the area and announce the departure.

While in flight, pilots must remain in constant contact with the San Diego-based radar controllers, responsible for keeping all planes a safe distance from one other.

Pilots landing at Fullerton Airport will be required to tell the San Diego-based controllers when they clear the runway so that another plane can arrive or depart.

Currently, the Fullerton tower is unmanned from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. The airfield had about 65,000 takeoffs and landings in 2012, a number that pales to that at many airports.
Reaction among pilots at the municipal airport on Friday varied.

"It's going to be a lot more dangerous," said Jackie DeCosta, 62, of Fullerton, a 20-year pilot who houses her Cessna 150 at the airport. "You're going to have to really watch out more."

Pilot Fred Pecoraro, 73, of Anaheim, was less concerned, noting there are already municipal airports without control towers.

"We manage without it," said Pecoraro, who's flown for 45 years and owns a four-seat Beechcraft Bonanza. "It's not the end of the world. ... You just have to be more careful."

Martin Coda, 79, of Anaheim houses his plane at Chino Airport and flies into Fullerton about once a week.

"A lot of guys who don't fly a lot might get affected," Coda said. "There is the possibility for more mid-air (collisions)."

Aside from John Wayne Airport, Los Alamitos Army Airfield is the only other Orange County airfield that will have a manned control tower. Non-military aircraft can only land at Los Alamitos in an emergency, Hoppe said.

(Lou Ponsi and Art Marroquin - Orange County Register)