And another reason...Everyone hype the pain....ooops until caught...
http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/01/politics/budget-faa/
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Washington (CNN) -- Two days after a Federal Aviation Administration official told contractors that steps were being taken to shut down 168 air traffic control towers on April 1, the agency gave the towers an unexpected reprieve Friday, saying the official's comments were "unauthorized."
In a
telephone conference call on Wednesday, an FAA official told contractors who operate the towers they would soon be receiving a letter giving notice that 168 towers would be closed on the first day of April because of government-wide spending cuts that were set in motion on Friday night.
Another 16 towers would be closed on September 30, the end of the fiscal year, the official said.
But the
news -- devastating to the three companies and hundreds of employees who staff the towers -- was short-lived.
On Friday, the FAA arranged a second
conference call, retracting without explanation the earlier call, according to Spencer Dickerson, head of the U.S. Control Tower Association.
The contractors were told that the first call "was not an authorized call," Dickerson said.
But Dickerson questioned that.
The Wednesday conference call "wasn't just some coffee break conversation at the water cooler," he said, saying it included FAA officials and representatives of all three contractors who operate FAA control towers in the United States."