Who watches SoCal’s skies when an airport tower goes dark?

The Hollywood Burbank Airport drew national attention recently when a shortage of air traffic controllers meant its tower had to close. The lack of controllers is a long-running issue that’s getting worse during the federal government shutdown, and it caused long delays for passengers at the airport.

But when an air traffic tower goes dark, what does that mean for your plane’s landing or takeoff? Who's monitoring your flight? Should you be worried?

We asked some long-time veterans of the business to explain. Here’s what we know.

How air traffic control works

Controllers give pilots permission to move a plane on the ground and in the air. They can also communicate useful info to pilots while they’re en route to their destination.

Ross Sagun, of Sagun Aviation consulting, a pilot for more than 50 years and former air traffic controller, said their primary job is to keep aircraft from touching each other, especially when a pilot can’t look out the window to see for themselves.

Sagun said there are three levels of air traffic control, each of which oversees different parts of airspace.

Air traffic is typically controlled by three separate groups, as shown here in the FAA's Air Traffic by the Numbers handbook.

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Courtesy the Federal Aviation Administration

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• Local airport control towers:

The first level are the controllers stationed in those tall towers at an airport, who watch up to 5,000 feet or so. Sometimes, it’s a whole team that focuses on different airport sections, like at LAX.

“ [They] are working ground control, clearance delivery, and landing and taking off aircraft,” Sagun said.

• Southern California TRACON:

Southern California TRACON, in San Diego, provides the next level of oversight. Here, controllers use radar to watch a “middle layer” of airspace up to roughly 15,000 feet, covering most airports in Southern California, including Long Beach, Burbank and LAX. The TRACON primarily focuses on arriving and departing aircraft.

• Air Route Traffic Control Center:

Los Angeles Air Route Traffic Control Center, in Palmdale, watches en route traffic (the phase of flying between takeoff and landing). It covers parts of California, Utah, Nevada and Arizona and has the ability to monitor the surface up to 60,000 feet. This facility operates continuously.

Some airports don’t have local controllers at all. The U.S. has over 5,000 public airports and only 527 control towers, according to the FAA. These are usually lower-traffic airports, such as Catalina, Cable and Compton airports, and are less common destinations for commercial flights. They rely on remote controllers in San Diego and pilot communication to manage plane traffic.

What happens during a controller shortage

When the Hollywood Burbank Airport’s control tower was unstaffed, the TRACON took over local duties, such as giving clearances. That’s not totally unusual — for example, during the height of the pandemic, unexpected tower closures happened a lot.

Towers regularly close at night too, often because of a commercial flight curfew. Mike Jesch, a Boeing 787 captain for a major airline, said that’s the case at Long Beach, John Wayne and Burbank airports. He says knowing how to fly into destinations without towers is standard training.

“Before a student pilot goes and flies an airplane on their own for the first time, instructors will take them to an airport without a tower and make sure that they know how to get in and out safely,” Jesch said.

How safe is it?

While pilots are trained to navigate air traffic, both experts told LAist they prefer to have local controllers present because the backup process has limitations.

“ They don’t have cameras or windows or eyeballs out into the world,” Jesch said. “They only have a radar screen, so there’s really usually not much help around an airport.”

Flight issues can also crop up when a tower is still open, but there aren’t enough controllers. Local roles get consolidated in those situations. For example, one controller could become responsible for multiple sides of an airport instead of just one.

“ When you take one of the legs off the stool, things get a little bit shaky,” Sagun said. “I’m real concerned about the level of safety right now.”

Radar helps once a plane reaches a high enough altitude, but for the most part, the responsibility falls on pilots to see and avoid. When a tower is closed, they use a special frequency assigned to each airport to announce their movements.

Even the frequencies pilots and controllers use to talk shrink during understaffing. Jesch recalled  a night several years ago while he was flying into a fully-lit Miami runway. One controller was swamped handling every station.

“I couldn’t get a word in edgewise to ask the controller to turn the lights down,” he said. “I ended up landing with holes burned in my retina from these really bright lights that I didn’t need.”

How does this affect my flight?

All of these issues can impact how quickly your aircraft moves or, in some cases, if your flight gets canceled.

When a tower is understaffed, controllers prioritize planes in the air, meaning departing aircraft could be forced to wait. If incoming traffic gets to be too much, a groundstop could be issued, or you may have to sit on the tarmac longer.

Controllers also slow down arrival rates if there’s too much going on, which gives them time to handle the workload.

“ It’s like having a clog in your sink with the water running,” Sagun said. “The water’s still running and rising. It’s just that you can’t drain it as fast.”

Whether it’s controllers or pilots running the show, air traffic delays can cascade to other parts of the country.

“It’s going to get there late. It’s gonna depart late… and it’s a big domino effect,” Sagun said.