FAA finalizes list of air traffic controllers set to close.

A pilot at Page Field thinks the towers are necessary.

By Julie Salomone

CREATED Mar. 22, 2013

  • Print

  • Naples Airport, Punta Gorda and Page Field are on the newly released list to have its towers close. Video by fox4now.com

    video

FORT MYERS, Fla.- The FAA previously released a list of air traffic control towers at airports across the country that could face possible closure. The FAA is expected to release a new list on Friday regarding airport control towers set to close.

Tony Bianco has flown for nearly 45 years, a decade of them spent at Page Field in Fort Myers.  He says air traffic control towers at the airport serves as a pilot's road map.

"I think it's needed," said Bianco.

"The tower tells you, hey, it's safe to land?" asked reporter Julie Salomone

"That's what it says and one less cost somewhere else in the United States with Air Force One or whatever would pay for all these towers and people working in them and keep everybody safe."

The towers in Southwest Florida that could be impacted include the tower at Page Field, Naples and Punta Gorda Airports. Bianco says there's plenty of non-towered airports in the United States, but he worries Page Field is just too busy to go without the extra guidance.

"Here you have a school that's running constantly and alot of small airplanes here flying and landing," said Bianco.
 
Bianco also points to the flight schools in the area and the number of newcomer pilots training and learning touch and go landings. 
 
"They land an airplane roll down the runway little bit and take off again and go back around and totally do it again, but in the meantime you got other aircrafts and jets coming in." 
 
Bianco says its simple, eyes in the tower, help make those in the sky safer.
 
"This is critical for pilots flying around here and for people on the ground too."