The Norman Transcript

Editorials

Discussion

March 13, 2013

FAA should keep Norman tower open

The Norman Transcript

NORMAN — The first rule of government budgeting seems to be to reduce or eliminate spending on projects that have immediate impact. The federal budget cuts that took effect March 1 are beginning to show up in Oklahoma.

The FAA announced this past week that the control towers at six Oklahoma general aviation airports will cease to be funded on April 7. The cut includes the contract tower at OU’s Max Westheimer field, the third busiest general aviation airport in the state and home to a busy pilot training school.

Westheimer — along with airports in Stillwater, Enid, Lawton, Ardmore and Tulsa Riverside — are contract operations, meaning they do not involve federal employees. Studies show the average annual cost to operate a contract tower like Westheimer is $537,000 compared to $2 million for an FAA-operated tower.

Norman’s airport has about 56,000 take-offs and landings a year and serves as an emergency reliever airport for Will Rogers World Airport. On a busy game day, dozens of private planes arrive and leave.

We think the FAA should rethink the tower closures and members of the state’s Congressional delegation should weigh in here, as should chamber of commerce members who arrived Tuesday in Washington.

Westheimer has had a tower presence for decades. As airport traffic grew, so did the need for communications between the ground and pilots. This is not the time to eliminate this vital safety tool.

For local news and more, subscribe to The Norman Transcript Smart Edition, or our print edition.

Text Only | Photo Reprints
Editorials
  • Degrees of progress

    Oklahoma higher education institutions have been challenged to increase the number of students who graduate. The 1,700 graduate increase goal was soon passed and officials reported about 3,000 more degrees awarded last year over the ...

    June 19, 2013

  • Make shelter plans before the storms

    The debate over public storm shelters reminds us that at one time in Norman, residents actually took shelter inside the cavernous Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. It was believed to be one of the safest structures in the city. Scientists now ...

    June 19, 2013

  • A short drought reprieve

    Oklahoma’s current respite from the drought may be short-lived. We’ve yet to reach 100-degree days where water use hits the peak and Norman turns the valve to buy water from Oklahoma City....

    June 18, 2013

  • Summertime warnings

    State and local health departments are sending out summer activity warnings. In recent weeks, we’ve received rabies, mosquito and teen driver warnings....

    June 18, 2013

  • Norman by the numbers

    Quick. What’s Norman’s current population? As of this week, city officials set the mark at 114,450. It seems like only months ago, we were passing 100,000 residents, including University of Oklahoma students....

    June 14, 2013

  • Court’s ruling ensures state has water access

    The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling Thursday, denying Texas access to Oklahoma water flowing within our state will help ensure the state’s water supply for generations to come....

    June 14, 2013

  • Live, die by sales tax

    Norman’s on-again, off-again love affair with the municipal sales tax has taken a hiatus. The numbers are up only slightly and less than what was projected in the city’s fiscal budget....

    June 13, 2013

  • A needed extension

    Gov. Mary Fallin took another walking tour of damaged Moore neighborhoods Wednesday. It comes as the governor requested and was approved for an extension of the federal major disaster declaration....

    June 13, 2013

  • Heat arrived suddenly

    The heat, which had stayed away from Oklahoma for most of May, has caught us by surprise this week....

    June 12, 2013

  • Meth addicts getting notice about law

    Oklahoma was one of the leaders in limiting sales of over-the-counter medicine containing pseudoephedrine. Meth cooks learned long ago that they could manufacture methamphetamine with cold pills and a few other ingredients....

    June 12, 2013