AIRPORT TOWER CALLED `2ND PAIR OF EYES'

From four stories above the ground, the decision to eliminate federal funding for the air traffic control tower at Cape Girardeau Regional Airport makes little sense to Larry Davis.

Davis, who supervises tower operations, can see the construction work taking place just beyond the terminal building. The $2.17 million project involves reconstruction of ramp areas, recabling of runway lighting, and construction of additional ramp space and a new taxiway.

The project is being funded largely with money from the Federal Aviation Administration, the same agency that has concluded it isn't cost effective to operate the tower for $170,000 a year.

"I still don't understand the logic. It is a mixed message," said Davis.

The Cape Girardeau tower is one of seven in 13 states that the FAA no longer will fund. The agency found that it was getting less than $1 in benefits for every dollar it was spending at those airports. At the Cape airport, the FAA concluded it was only getting 40 cents in benefits for every dollar spent.

The Cape airport used to have over 60,000 takeoffs and landings a year. Today, it has only about a third of that, Davis said.

Even so, there is still enough traffic to warrant a tower, he maintained.

Davis, who formerly worked as an air traffic controller at the Air Force Academy in Colorado, said control towers provide a safety net.

"It is a second set of eyes," said Davis. Pilots, he said, often fail to see other approaching aircraft.

They also lose their bearings. "We deal with disoriented pilots on a regular basis," said Davis. "They just don't know where they are."

Recently, a pilot was flying from the Little Rock, Ark., area to Cape Girardeau. He was all the way to Arnold and still heading north when he radioed that he was looking for the Cape airport.

The tower controller radioed back directions. Without the tower, the pilot would have never made it to Cape, Davis said.

Davis said there is a greater chance for airplane collisions at an airport without a tower.

Wayne Anders of Air Evac Aviation said towers serve as "security blankets" at airports.

Air Evac Aviation is the fixed-base operator at the Cape airport.

If the tower were to close, it could result in less general aviation traffic at the airport. That would, in turn, mean reduced fuel sales for Air Evac.

"I have been told by people who fly corporate jets in here that they would look for other locations at which they could land either for fuel or to conduct business," said Anders.

Closing the tower also would force Air Evac to move some of its pilot training to airports that have a tower. Student pilots need to know how to communicate with tower controllers and operate planes in a tower environment, he said.

The city likely will fund the tower through the end of June while it looks for long-term funding.

"We have to figure out a way to fund this tower," said Mayor Al Spradling III. "It is very much in the interests of this city to have it open."

State funding may be the answer.

The Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission wants the state to fill the funding void.

Two Cape Girardeau lawmakers, State Sen. Peter Kinder and State Rep. Mary Kasten, said they favor using state money to operate the tower.

Kasten said it may take a combination of city and state money to run the tower.

Any state-funding decision rests with the General Assembly in the next legislative session.

The city employs five air traffic controllers, four of them part-time. Davis is the only full-time worker.

While the city operates the tower, the federal government has funded it since it opened in January 1974.

The airport will continue to function with or without a tower.

"We would be like 90 to 95 percent of airports in this country," said Steve Robertson, a local pilot and airport board member.

"We have a homing beacon and an instrument landing system," said Robertson. Those would still operate without a tower.

"When you land for fuel, you want a bathroom. You want something to eat and you want a telephone," said Robertson.