GOP wants more private air traffic control towers

"The IG determined that the average contract tower costs roughly $1.5 million less to operate than a comparable FAA tower — due largely to lower staffing and salary levels."

A lot of airports already have one controller handling all the frequencies creating a safety hazard and now these for profit companies are trying to reduce staff and salary. Right, because that's how you fix the system by cutting staff and lowering pay. o_O

What about remote towers, like Saab was designing? Several small airports could be managed through HD camera's. No more stairs for the controllers to walk up......

Has anyone commenting here bothered to read anything more that the OP?

Breifing Doc1

http://republicans.transportation.house.gov/Media/file/112th/Aviation/Aviaton%20Briefing%20Memo%20%20%207-18-12.pdf

or
http://www.oig.dot.gov/sites/dot/files/Contract%20Tower%20Hearing%20Statement%5E7-18-12.pdf

The FAA is bad enough, but there's nothing worse than these privatized towers. They hire circus clowns who are ex-military, arrogant, and incompetent. We'd be better off with no tower than these non-federal excuses for service.

So, basically, it is all about people, salaries, pensions and termination payments. What about equipment upgrades and maintenance, facility upgrades, work rules when things go haywire ( like what happened on 9/11 ) and all the other things that make up the cost of operating the airways? There is much more to this than what the article addresses.

Quote: “The [DOT inspector general] determined that contract towers had a lower number and rate of reported safety incidents than similar FAA towers"

Duh, they care about keeping their jobs & contracts!

It's the Republican way. Contract out and make their buddies rich while screwing the working man. Pay lower salaries without benefits while the 'Contractor" buys a new beach house, gets a new mistress and a few more boxes of Cuban cigars along with their new country club membership. The lower number of incidents is just propaganda to satisfy their zeal to get rid of Government workers and make more money. It's all BS and lies. Soon America will have the peasant class outside the moat and the rich inside the castle with no middle class that made this country great. It's coming. Piece by piece. Until we storm the castle and tar and feather the one percent.

How long until the GOP advocates outsourcing the Army, Air Force, and Navy? Oh yeah, they kind of tried that on a small scale with Blackwater, didn't they? Didn't work out, did it? Perhaps everything in this world doesn't really need to be managed like a get-rich-quick scam.

if the government wants to save money, cutting ATC from the government budget is not the way to go. Long term will spend more money. Who were the people bitching when NASA was cut down in the budget? I mean FAA/ATC seems more vital.

End afghanistan, war on drugs, and stop filling for profit prisons with tax payers money. That would be a start. If we still need to cut more then look at ATC. But for goodness sake, any serious conversation regarding budgets need to begin and/or include the heaviest burdens on said budget.

I am an Air Traffic Controller and at an en route center and I am for privatizing the whole administration, I like to cut the fat off the agency.

i fly and manage an FBO we have two airports within 20 miles of each other; one has an FAA tower the other a contract tower. Contract tower handles more traffic; has better equipment, and from the Pilots prespective they do a better job. No write up vs four this year for the FAA tower.

Good morning all! Yesterday around 12:15 in the afternoon, a solid white 757 landed at KILM (Wilmington NC) number 09001, one person exited the plane and I lost track of where he went. Could not find much about this aircraft or flight. Any ideas from the group? Steve in NC

My local tower went from 15 FAA government controllers to 5 private contractor controllers. Same hours, same service. More funds for equipment upgrades.

Its like shopping at Walmart. If you can get the same for less, why spend more. Esp when its my tax dollars. The Gov't is not a jobs program.

Profit is not a sin, it drives efficiency.

Trying to educate liberals is like trying to pick up a turd by the clean end.

The National Airspace System is for the benefit of all citizens. The safety and security of that system is first and foremost the main concern of these same citizens. These principles should be ensured by a United States Government entity (FAA). The main purpose of privitization of the NAS is to cut costs. It is done by reducing the number of people. The FAA is charged with oversight of these privatized towers at a fixed prie per tower. The number of controller errors and pilot violations reported by the private towers is lower because if the actual number WAS higher, the private contractors would have to employ more people, thereby cutting into the company's profit margin. It all boils down to either a thinner margin of safety for the public or thinner profits for the contractor. So which one benefits the citzenry more? I would choose government operation of the NAS over a private company.

Of course they do. And private police forces, private prisons, and anything that else that will allow human lives to be controlled by whoever controls the largest billfold.