Non-federal towers

It means that the controllers are employed by the local municipality...


"jacjohn" wrote in message
...
Ok...
With all the talk of "non-federal" towers, I got to thinking. What exactly
does that mean
to us pilots?

...without a clue


John Y.
PP-ASEL

It means that the controllers are employed by the local municipality...

And possibly reduced operating hours, depending on the budget problems
the local government may be having.
Columbus Ohio closes the tower at KTZR at 7 pm, now. Used to be open
until 11 pm, then 10pm, than 9 pm.

As I noted in a newsgroup recently, Renton, Washington, is a contract tower,
and the controllers (or the local airport authority, I'm not sure which)
made everything except the runway non-movement areas, where the controllers
have no responsibility or authority. So pilots taxiing out are told to
monitor ground, told not to transmit on the ground control frequency, and if
there is a conflict on the taxiway the two pilots will have to work it out
on their own. No radio transmissions until "Ready for takeoff" on the tower
frequency.

You can dig it out of the A/FD if you look in Special Notices...not a word
in the regular listing.

Bob Gardner

"jacjohn" wrote in message
...
Ok...
With all the talk of "non-federal" towers, I got to thinking. What exactly
does that mean
to us pilots?

...without a clue


John Y.
PP-ASEL

jacjohn wrote:
Ok...
With all the talk of "non-federal" towers, I got to thinking. What exactly
does that mean
to us pilots?

IME, it's kind of transparent to the users.

It means the controllers are not federal employees but private,
employed by whoever operates the airport (local municipality?).

So far, haven't really noticed any difference except the controllers
tend to be friendlier and if they do make a sequencing or other error,
less inclined to publically chew the pilot's butt for their own
mistake.

Maybe there are some differences in skill or training I don't see,
haven't met them yet though.

Cheers,
Sydney

I don't have access to many sectionals, but I believe that it's standard for
the Non-Federal Control Towers to be depicted with the notation "NFCT"

1. Why would it be important to note this?
2. Is this standard on all United States sectionals?

Aaron
CFI / ATP

"Sydney Hoeltzli" wrote in message
...
jacjohn wrote:
Ok...
With all the talk of "non-federal" towers, I got to thinking. What
exactly
does that mean
to us pilots?

IME, it's kind of transparent to the users.

It means the controllers are not federal employees but private,
employed by whoever operates the airport (local municipality?).

So far, haven't really noticed any difference except the controllers
tend to be friendlier and if they do make a sequencing or other error,
less inclined to publically chew the pilot's butt for their own
mistake.


Consider it the difference between the USPS and FedEx.

Sydney Hoeltzli wrote in message ...
jacjohn wrote:
Ok...
With all the talk of "non-federal" towers, I got to thinking. What exactly
does that mean
to us pilots?


Maybe there are some differences in skill or training I don't see,
haven't met them yet though.


I recently took a tour of the soon to be opened tower at Denton, which
will be non-federal.

They're mostly hiring recently-retired federal controllers who don't
want to work odd hours in the middle of the night, etc. any more. They'll
have plenty of skill and training and will be working in a low-intensity
atmosphere. I don't anticipate any particular problems, other than those
generally brought about by continued population expansion.

At least they're improving the airport rather than building McMansions on
the runways.

"Bob Gardner" wrote in message newsWqPa.31718$N7.3950@sccrnsc03...
As I noted in a newsgroup recently, Renton, Washington, is a contract tower,
and the

Contract towers and NFCT aren't synonous. There are federally operated contract
towers (which I suppose ****es off NATCA more than the NFCT's).

"Sydney Hoeltzli" wrote in message ...

FWIW, that isn't the way our local NFCTs work. They use their ground
frequency and give taxi clearances.

Renton appears to be weird. Most NFCT's are indistinguisable to the pilot.

They can transmit on the ground frequency to each other...just don't expect
the ground controller to get into the act. Sorry that I did not make that
clear.

Bob Gardner

"Sydney Hoeltzli" wrote in message
...
Bob Gardner wrote:
As I noted in a newsgroup recently, Renton, Washington, is a contract
tower,
and the controllers (or the local airport authority, I'm not sure which)
made everything except the runway non-movement areas, where the
controllers
have no responsibility or authority. So pilots taxiing out are told to
monitor ground, told not to transmit on the ground control frequency,
and if
there is a conflict on the taxiway the two pilots will have to work it
out
on their own. No radio transmissions until "Ready for takeoff" on the
tower
frequency.

Wait a minnut, if the pilots can't transmit on ground, how are they
supposed to "work out" any conflicts? Is there another freq. available
for this?

FWIW, that isn't the way our local NFCTs work. They use their ground
frequency and give taxi clearances.

Cheers,
Sydney