FAA moves on new air traffic plan without local input

FAA moves on new air traffic plan without local input

EDITOR:

As someone who depends on local airport safety regulation, I have serious concerns about the Federal Aviation Administration’s proposal to transfer radar services from the local terminal approach control (TRACON). TRACONs provide valuable radar services to aircraft approaching and departing an airport. When these services are removed, the local knowledge of the air traffic controllers at the facility is lost.

My specific concern is about the air base in Vienna located adjacent to the airport. The Air Force uses this airport daily to practice maneuvers, do touch and goes, and train for military missions for which these men, women and airplanes may be deployed. The first concern is the safety of the airmen who routinely fly these planes and depend on the air traffic controllers in the tower to monitor and relay safe conditions. The second concern is for the people who live under the landing pattern and directly below the airspace used for these maneuvers. On almost any given night, you can look out my window and feel that the approaching aircraft is going to land in my family room. I would be very uncomfortable knowing that the controller advising this aircraft of potentially unsafe conditions is 70 miles away. I do not believe it would be in the best interest of the Air Force or the surrounding community to remove local air traffic control from our airport.

Additionally, our community has been working to attract commercial carriers to the airport. The Youngstown Regional Airport has the longest runway between Cleveland and Pittsburgh and is suitable to land any type of aircraft. It can be attractive to many types of air businesses. Without the added safety of local air traffic control, I think potential business may be deterred.

The FAA has an obligation to demonstrate that the proposal to remove the TRACON will provide an operational benefit to users, increase safety, increase system efficiency or save money. Thus far, the agency has failed to demonstrate any benefits to their proposal. In fact, the FAA has not reached out to the local aviation community at all.

Such major adjustments to the skies above our communities should only be done after careful and thorough review and evaluation, and only after local stakeholders have had an opportunity to have their voices heard. Unfortunately, the FAA is closing the TRACON that serves the Youngstown Airport without any input from our local aviation community. That is just not right.

ANNE MARTIN

Warren

Family farms at heart of it all

EDITOR:

I have recently read a series of essays written by Wendell Berry called “Bringing it to the Table.” I believe this book is a “must read” for anyone interested in conservation, environmentalism or saving the planet in general.

A few thoughts I came away with are:

1. The sustainability of the family farm, where simplicity meets necessity, is what we need to readdress the abundance of nature to preserve our world.

2. When frugality emerges as a commitment, only then can we diminish greed and redirect technology (industrial farming) from death to life. We live more to eat than be fed. In other words, the time is fast approaching, that we need to eat (and buy) locally to live, or continue to be fed (and waste) globally to die. It’s a tremendous blessing for me to live, love and work in Youngstown, Ohio.

3. The failure of the family farm is the end of the world as we know it.

4. The solution is in the sustainability of our natural resources — but first we must understand and appreciate what is really important.

BRENDAN GILMARTIN

Youngstown