FAA suggests keeping local traffic-control operations at airport

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.

“I strongly support the FAA’s preliminary decision to maintain local traffic-control operations at our regional airport,” said Boccieri, a commercial pilot and squadron commander at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station, which abuts the regional airport.

“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,” he said.

“Who better knows our air space than our traffic controllers? To move control operations somewhere else would degrade safety. We totally support the recommendation,” said Dickten.

The National Facilities Realignment and Consolidation Report Part 2, released this week, is a part of an annual evaluation that an FAA working group conducts as a part of its obligations under the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012.

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. The other three – Erie, Akron-Canton and Grand Rapids – were recommended for realignment with other nearby towers.