All Air Traffic Controllers Resign at the San Carlos airport (back to work)

You guys realize the airports runway was only 2600 feet long. You can’t land anything of significance. I mean nothing. You do also realize UPS and FedEx land every night at 2am all across the country at airports with no control tower. This airport has zero need for any federal paid controllers. And is actually a good example of waste

AirNav: KSQL - San Carlos Airport

 

It’s in the path of several major airports, we literally had a plane crash yesterday with dozens dead where visual verify failed in a busy airspace. As the manager said, it’s a layer of protection gone.

 

I think the issue is that it sits in a flight approach corridor for San Fran. That means any traffic around that airport is an issue for a great deal of San Francisco traffic.

 

ATCs pass planes off between towers and centers (ARTCCs which are not at airports)

This is quite a gap in communication now, which was the cause of the crash we just had.

 

Here's a map of the three major Bay Area airports. San Carlos is off the 101 which connects San Jose and San Francisco, and about 3 miles north of Redwood City, which is on this map.

Draw a triangle between the three major airports, and the exact center would be over the bay. But just a few clicks west of that exact center sits San Carlos.

 

This is just not true. You don’t need a control tower to control airspace. But think whatever you want

 

The issue is moot now since the airport and the air traffic controllers have reached an agreement.
San Carlos Airport reaches agreement to keep its air traffic controllers
That being said and while there are actually more airports without control towers than there with towers, the San Carlos Airport probably needs the controllers both by virtue of the number of flight operations and its location near three major airports.
Control tower at San Carlos Airport may soon be unstaffed, leading to safety concerns – The Mercury News
Franco said that an unmanned tower at the airport is a cause for concern, especially with the San Carlos Airport being so close to San Francisco International Airport. The main concern, he added, is the volume of traffic around the area because planes approaching SFO make their final descent near San Carlos.

“There’s going to be a lot of traffic, and the tower, when they’re operating, will usually help remind and advise pilots of that proximity,” Franco said.

The airport also handles charter operations and flight training, which involves repeated takeoffs and landings. Franco said that air traffic is the immediate concern right now, because operations would be “logistically more challenging and less safe,” and other airports in the area might have to take that traffic.
In 2024, San Carlos Airport had more than 98,000 operations, such as takeoffs and landings, and over 100,000 operations directed by the air control tower.

 

So ... does this mean Ronald Reagan is off the hook?

Just checking before we dig him up and put him on trial.

 

I don’t know what it matters but my brother who is based at SFO doesn’t recall ever talking to this ATC.

 

because he wouldn’t. I’ve been flying in and out of all sorts of airports large and small for over 2 decades, domestic and international, including SFO. There would never be a reason for any aircraft landing or departing SFO to talk to a tower at some tiny airport, just not how it works. Even under an emergency I can’t land my plane on a 2600 ft runway and wouldn’t even try to talk to them. I can fly from Atlanta down to Miami at night and hear UPS and FedEx being cleared to land at small airports with no tower controllers all over the southeast. Thats how you get overnight delivery from Syracuse to Valdosta Georgia. Very routine.

Fun edit. I always say ‘go gators’ to anyone wearing Gator gear when they get on or off my plane. The smiles are great when far away from FL and they weren’t expecting to hear me say that.

 

I don’t think he’s saying the pilots would talk to those controllers at this small airport if they were landing at one of the major airports (why would they do that?), just that the ATC at that airport would be communicating with their pilots landing and taking off. Like if one of their planes deviates or needs alerts as to the air traffic situation then having an ATC means they’d be on top of that.

I’m sure it doesn’t matter much in small airports without any major airport nearby, or even in decent sized cities with 1 major airport and 1 small airport a # of miles away and the traffic is easy to figure out. Seems like it could come into play in an area like this though, with a bunch of airports and possibly helicopters as well (not LA or DC bad, but still far worse than most). One of the factors in the DC crash will probably be that they were missing 1 controller. Not that there is any evidence the remaining controller did anything wrong, just that second controller could have paid more attention and corrected the pilot more quickly in those crucial seconds. It’s probably a thing we can only speculate as to what might have happened with 2 controllers instead of 1. Based on this airport you are describing having experience with, it might also be an “it’s ok until it’s not ok” situation. But I’d ask, why cut corners???

 

Yes, I think the concern is more about the aircraft controlled by the San Carlos ATC and what this means for the whole of the ATC profession.

 

You sure about that?

 

There are currently 1900 vacant ATC jobs across the United States. None will be filled while Idiot Musk spends his day and night exercising is non-elected, non-appointed by Congress power. Once that moron is out of the way and hiring can resume, they will find job offers rolling in.