Unusual Attitudes: FAA's Tower of Babel

Unusual Attitudes: FAA’s Tower of Babel

Martha Lunken

Thursday, June 10, 2010 at 07:21 PM ET

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The tower under construction at Dayton.

Key Takeaways:

The FAA planned to relocate Dayton Airport's Tracon (Terminal Radar Approach Control) to Columbus due to declining air traffic, as part of a larger national realignment strategy.
This proposed relocation generated concerns among air traffic controllers' unions and aviation groups regarding transparency, management practices, and potential impacts on service quality.
Ironically, Dayton Airport recently completed construction of a large, expensive, FAA-funded new control tower that, despite its cost, will not house the relocated Tracon facilities, serving only administrative functions.
Ultimately, the FAA suspended its national Tracon realignment plan, including the Dayton Tracon move, with various groups claiming credit for the decision.

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Please Plan on Attending” was the subject line in an e-mail from Marty Bevill at Wapakoneta airport (“Wapak” to the locals) about 100 miles north of Cincinnati. Officially AXV, it’s the Neil Armstrong Airport at New Knoxville in Auglaize County, nestled in mid-Ohio farm country south of Lima. The airport namesake grew up in Wapak and soloed a Champ on his 16th birthday at a nearby airport called “Port Koneta,” which has since reverted to corn and soybeans. Today Wapakoneta is one of a gazillion GA hard-surface airports served by the Tracon at Dayton Airport, officially DAY, the Dayton Cox International Airport at Vandalia in Montgomery County, nestled in the Miami Valley … but I digress.

The message was about an FAA meeting that “would address” proposed operational changes at Dayton tower, specifically the relocation of the Tracon to Columbus, Ohio. The airport operator was hopeful that, if enough users voiced strong and valid objections, the feds would rethink this move.