What to know about air traffic control towers after a Midair collision in Arizona request questions

Tens of thousands of planes take off, land and carry on and goes to the Southern Arizona Regional Airport, each …

Tens of thousands of planes take off, land and carry on and goes to the Southern Arizona Regional Airport every year. Without an air traffic control tower, it is a calculated dance that requires communication by pilots.

Two small planes He clasped in the air Over one of the tracks on the edge of Tucson last week. One hit the ground and caught fire, sending a black smoke feather. The remnants of two people were found in the carbonized wreck. The other plane was able to land, with those unsuccessful occupants.

The collision was The most recent inconvenience of aviation to attract attention in recent weeks. However, circumstances vary greatly with each case, and experts studying aviation accidents say they do not see any connection between them.

Chatter Over The Air Undes offered some clues about what happened in Arizona. A main flight instructor who was in the air with a student that day heard the stirs on the radio: one plane tried a touch and a goal when another one cut off while trying to land.

Erwin Castillo, who works for the IFly pilot training, remembered he heard a pilot scream: “Mayday! May day! May day! He just hit us. “

It will be from the disposal of federal investigators to determine what caused the accident, a detailed process that will last on Monday.

While some observers suggest that a control tower could have made the difference, experts say that they do not have a tower does not mean that the airport is less safe; The pilots have only a different set of communication procedures.

How many US airports do they have control towers?

Of the 5,100 public airports from all over the country, only about 10% have towers employed by people who direct the traffic flow. These are the busiest airports, with complex operations and large volumes of commercial flights.

For airports without control towers, pilots are based on radio communications and the principle of “see and avoid” to make sure they can handle safely. The concept is drilled in pilots from the first day of their preparation and is applicable regardless of the type of air space, said Mike Ginter, an aviator of the pension navy and senior vice -president of the aircraft owners and the Association Association.

He resembled it to the fact that he was at the wheel of a car and practiced all the safety rules learned in Ed.

“You do not have to tell the state police that you are preparing to drive to the supermarket to get food. Simply go out and look in both directions before you return and start your turning signal and drive, ”he explained, saying that there are basic elements of safety that are rooted in pilots.

The system worked well, given the large number of aircraft coming and leaving small airports daily and about 26 million flight hours registered by general aviation pilots.

What determined the regulation of friendly heaven?

It was a summer day in 1956, when two commercial flights left Los Angeles in minutes – one on the route to Chicago and the other to Kansas. Flying in accordance with the visual flight rules, the planes collided over the Grand Canyon in Arizona, killing all 128 people on board. The place of accidents is now a national historical landmark.

Even though American air traffic has been more than doubled from the end of the Second World War, this disaster has contributed to supplying efforts to review aviation safety.

The legislation was introduced in 1958 to create an independent federal agency to ensure the safe and efficient use of the national airspace. The draft law was signed in a few months and was appointed the first administrator of the Federal Aviation Agency.

The responsibilities evolved, and the agency became the Federal Aviation Administration, because the air traffic control systems were modernized.

Are new control towers planned?

By face, Airports may seek federal grants For the modernization and construction of air traffic control towers that are employed by private companies and contractual workers, rather than by FAA staff.

Almost 180 airports at national level are eligible for financing within the program, most seeking to update existing towers – some dating from the 1940s and others that were to be temporary.

A review of the financing granted through the program in the last four fiscal years shows that a handful of airports have received special money for the studies on the site, the environmental works and the construction of new towers. This includes bend airports, Oregon; Boulder City, Nevada; And Mankato, Minnesota.

In the case of Marana, the airport was first accepted in the program in 2019, but the Coronavirus pandemia stopped to get a tower built until the term of five years. Airport officials said that they are now about to complete the project until 2029.

Will the federal jobs affect the safety of air traffic?

US President Donald Trump issued a memory At the end of January, to the top transport officials, ordering an immediate aviation safety evaluation following the medium collision of an army helicopter and a trading jet over the Potomac River in Washington, Sixty -Seven People were killed .

Trump has raised questions about FAA employment practices, suggesting previous democratic administrations He had moved away from the engagement based on merits.

Some FAA jobs have been removed As Trump efficates federal workforce and forgets to eliminate waste and waste expenses, but less than 1% of the more than 45,000 workers of the agency were employed as part of job discounts, said Federal officials.

In addition, the administration said that no Air traffic controllers or critical safety staff were fired as part of the effort. But the labor groups and the industry say even without discounts, the air traffic control towers were already underestimated.

Trump said he will support the legislation aimed at modernizing the nation’s air traffic control system. In a letter sent to the members of Congress last week, the airlines of the industry group for America has made efforts for emergency financing for the critical air traffic technology and infrastructure, as well as for the staff and training of the air controller.

___

This report contributed the writer Associated Press, Sejal Govandarao from Phoenix.