FAA recommends maintaining tower operatioins in Vienna

Staff report

VIENNA

State Rep. John Boccieri of Poland, D-59th, and Dan Dickten, director of aviation at Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport, applauded initial recommendations from the Federal Aviation Administration to sustain and maintain current air traffic control operations at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport.

The federal agency had considered realigning the Vienna aviation facility’s control operations with those in Cleveland or Pittsburgh, but concluded that such a change would not be cost effective, said Boccieri.

“With both civilian and military operations co-located at [the regional airport], I believe it is critical to keep our local air traffic control tower operational. From a military standpoint, the type of training we conduct [there] is supported by FAA air traffic controllers, and maintaining the current level of support is extremely important,” said Boccieri, a commercial pilot and squadron commander at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station which abuts the regional airport

This year’s report analyzed five facilities: Erie, Akron-Canton, Grand Rapids, Toledo and Youngstown. Youngstown was one of two facilities recommended to sustain operations.

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