5 Airports Including Martin State Seek Maryland Funding

Martin State Airport is one of five airports asking the governor for funding to keep Maryland's air traffic control towers open, the Herald-Mail reports.

The Middle River airport was among 149 notified in late March that their air traffic control towers were slated for closure as the Federal Aviation Administration made more than $600 million in sequester cuts.

The tower at Martin State Airport will close April 21, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

However, the five Maryland airports whose air traffic control towers are slated for closure—Martin State, Easton, Frederick, Hagerstown and Salisbury-Ocean City Wicomico—have written a letter to Gov. Martin O'Malley seeking 75 percent of the funding needed for the towers to remain operational, with a commitment from the counties to provide the remaining 25 percent, the Herald-Mail reports.

In the meantime, it is possible for airports without air traffic control tower operators to continue running, by using radio frequencies and pilot-operated lights to communicate, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

For the pilots at Martin State Airport, that is not unheard of, according to one Essex Patch reader.

"At present there [are] no controllers after 11 p.m.," Joe Rockhead said on the Essex-Middle River Patch Facebook page. "Airplanes landing can turn on runway lights via radio."

See Also:

• Martin State Airport Seeks Federal Cooperation
• FAA Mulls Fate of Martin State Air Traffic Control Towers
• Martin State Air Traffic Control Tower to Close

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