Budget cuts may shut down Goodyear airport control tower

March 25, 2013

The major tenant at the Goodyear Airport says shutting down the control tower, under the sequester budget cuts, could force it to go elsewhere to train pilots.

Matthias Kippenberg of the Airline Training Center of Arizona, says dozens of planes perform takeoffs and landings there every day.

“That kind of operation we feel cannot be done safely without a control tower, especially since we are talking about student pilots,” Kippenberg said.

Kippenberg says if the tower closure stands his company may have to look elsewhere for pilot training and he says that could be either in the U.S. or outside the country.