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Are Towered Airports Safer?

While it is helpful to have someone with a bigger picture to help you manage situation awareness, it does not abdicate the pilot of their responsibility.

Tuesday, February 04, 2025 at 01:24 PM ET

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Edited By: tccjeremy

Most of the airports in the U.S.—some 20,000 of them—are nontowered facilities, like Pierce County Airport (KPLU). [Credit: Meg Godlewski]

Key Takeaways:

Pilots bear ultimate responsibility for "see and avoid" and sound aeronautical decision-making, as neither towered nor nontowered airports inherently guarantee safety; ATC is an aid, not a substitute for pilot vigilance.
Misconceptions about airport safety are common; towered airports are not inherently safer, nor are nontowered airports inherently unsafe, with traffic load dictating the need for a control tower.
Accurate aircraft identification is critical, as misidentification, even with ATC guidance, poses a significant midair collision risk, requiring pilots to visually verify targets and be prepared to adjust.

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It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the midair collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (KDCA) in late January has been a topic of discussion among pilots around the country. It was a horrible accident, taking the lives of 67 people and affecting so many more who loved them. The only positive thing that comes out of an event like this is that it can make pilots more vigilant when they fly at or near towered airports.

Are Towered Airports Safer?

One of the common misconceptions is that towered airports are inherently safer than nontowered airports, because air traffic control is “watching out” for the pilots. While it is helpful to have someone with a bigger picture to help you manage situation awareness, it does not abdicate the pilot of their responsibility. The pilot still has to display good aeronautical decision making.

Meg Godlewski has been an aviation journalist for more than 24 years and a CFI for more than 20 years. If she is not flying or teaching aviation, she is writing about it. Meg is a founding member of the Pilot Proficiency Center at EAA AirVenture and excels at the application of simulation technology to flatten the learning curve. Follow Meg on Twitter @2Lewski.