LAWTON Okla_ The automatic
budget cuts that will go into effect if the sequester goes through will affect
more than just the military.
About 230
airports nationwide will lose their control towers on March 1st, and
the Lawton/Fort Sill Regional Airport is on that list.
Airport Manager
Barbara McNally said the elimination of the control tower would not affect
travel. She said operating tower or not, your spring break plans won't be
affected.
If the
sequester takes effect on March 1st, it will likely be the
controllers at Fort Sill who are responsible for landing the American Eagle
jets going between Lawton to Dallas.
McNally said
the change won't be as dramatic as it sounds. It's already a team effort.
"Right now,
when a pilot is coming into our area, they're talking to the Fort Sill
approach controllers," McNally said. "If they're landing in Lawton, they're just being handed off to our
controllers here to the ground."
Most likely,
these folks de-boarding their plane didn't think twice about who was
communicating with the pilot, or where they were located. McNally said
travelers won't notice a difference next time they take off or land in Lawton.
"The
public will see no difference in the services that they're going to be
provided," McNally said. "The air carriers will not see any differences. The
pilots will just be talking to someone different that won't be right there on
the airfield. So, it will not affect our business."
Internally,
there will be some changes made if the sequester forces the tower to quit
operating. McNally said the changes will be minimal, but extremely important.
"When
we're out on the air side driving, if maintenance is doing inspections and that
kind of thing, there's a different procedure of monitoring a different
frequency to make sure we're not going to be out there the same time as a plane
is," McNally said. "A plane has the right-of-way over everybody out there, so
we'll have to be more vigilant while we're out there. We'll have to be in coordination
with Fort Sill approach."
There are five other airports in Oklahoma that are set close their towers
come March 1st. McNally said the Lawton Fort sill Regional Airport will fare
much better than the others, because we do have a military presence here that
can pick up the slack. She's not really sure what the other airports will do.
The other
airports in Oklahoma that will be affected if the sequester goes through are Ardmore
Municipal, University of Oklahoma Westheimer, Wiley Post, Stillwater Regional
and Enid Wooding Regional.
