On Tuesday, March 5, 2013 3:38:04 PM UTC-7, John Carlyle wrote:

Here's a list of the 173 towers to be closed:

Well, to be precise, it's a list of towers that COULD be closed - the list has around 216 towers listed. It's more likely a list of low-use or contract towers. FAA would choose 173 from the list.

I like the way the story says some planes "need control towers to land". With TCAS (and in the future, ADS-B, maybe)the need for a tower at a little-used airfield is reduced to ground control. So now the pilot has to do some of that "pilot sh!t", in the words of the immortal Goose!

I can just see a bunch of 787s (some trailing smoke due to minor battery problems...) and Barbie Jets duking it out in the pattern like a busy glider contest finish ("Land long, Delta, American is right behind you!").

Is this a great country or what!

Kirk
66 (for real now!)