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San Carlos Airport was staring at the loss of air-traffic controllers when an 11th hour reprieve arrived.
The airport was set to lose staffing at its control tower after controllers for Oklahoma-based Robinson Aviation (RVA) refused to begin work there the past weekend because of a pay dispute, San Mateo County airports spokesperson Davi Howard said.
The Federal Aviation Administration through a bid process awarded RVA a contract to staff the tower starting Saturday, Feb. 1, after the one with longtime provider Serco was supposed to have ended the previous day, Howard told this news organization.
But given the RVA controllers’ refusal to work at the airport, the FAA has extended Serco’s service there for another two months.
“RVA is contractually responsible for ensuring the continuity of air-traffic services when it takes over,” the FAA said in a statement sent to this news organization. “However, RVA informed the FAA it has been unable to hire controllers to work at San Carlos. To mitigate this situation, we are extending the prior service Serco provider for 60 days.”
The tower at San Carlos like hundreds of other airports around the country is operated by a private company — which must follow the FAA’s strict safety standards, the agency added.
The situation at San Carlos comes amid last week’s deadly midair collision between a commercial airplane and military helicopter over Washington, D.C. — a tragedy that reportedly could have involved tower staffing issues.
Howard told this news organization that the county doesn’t have jurisdiction over the tower and is not involved in staffing or labor negotiations there.
“But we have a vested interest in making sure the airport is run in a very safe manner,” he said. “We want people to know the airport is safe and the control tower is fully staffed.”
In a statement, the county said: “Airport operations at (San Carlos) continue without disruption, and pilots remain well-trained in non-towered airport procedures. Additionally, the surrounding airspace remains under the direct oversight of the FAA’s Northern California Terminal Radar Approach Control.”
Apparently, Howard said, the near-disruption in service stemmed from RVA declining to give controllers an $18,000 housing stipend to account for the Bay Area’s high cost-of-living.
RVA couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
The prospect of not having the tower staffed worried Bob Kearn, a pilot and board member for the nonprofit San Carlos Airport Association.
“I was very concerned,” Kearn said in an interview with this publication. A lack of air-traffic controllers “makes the airport less safe.”
Controllers keep separation among aircraft, guide air traffic and give landing clearances, he said.
Such support is needed during prime flying hours of about 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. although the tower is not staffed a continuous 24 hours a day such as in the middle of the night when air traffic is light, he said.
During those times nobody is working the tower, Kearn said, pilots communicate with each other and their location through a common radio frequency. He pointed out that a vast number of airports nationwide don’t have towers.
But San Carlos — though small — is a busy airport with a congested airspace during the prime hours.
Last year, Kearn said, the airport saw 90,000 operations. That’s 90,000 times that the tower interacted with a pilot to give information during take-offs or landings, he said. The airport is also home base to about 500 aircraft.
Howard added that San Carlos plays a significant role in the area’s aviation space as it accommodates small aircraft that the major San Francisco International Airport doesn’t have to, serves local business flights and provides a place for people to learn how to fly.
But while Kearn is relieved that the tower will remain staffed for now, he wonders about the long term.
“The problem has been averted for 60 days,” Kearn said, “but we’re very concerned about what’s going to happen after. It’s not clear what the solution is after 60 days.”
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