FATE OF CAPE GIRARDEAU'S AIRPORT TOWER UP TO FAA

When it comes to fighting for the city's air-traffic control tower, Cape Girardeau Regional Airport Manager Greg Chenoweth leaves nothing to chance.

"Based on the documentation and research we've put together, it would be hard for the FAA to turn us down," Chenoweth said.

The Federal Aviation Administration is considering closing 23 control towers across the nation, including two in Missouri. Cape Girardeau's tower, and one in Joplin, both are in jeopardy.

The FAA is asking cities with government-funded air-traffic control towers to show a dollar return on every dollar the agency spends on a tower. The magic cost-benefit ratio is 1.0.

Chenoweth will send his proposal to the FAA Tuesday. The agency will respond in October.

The airport manager said the FAA made several glaring errors during a preliminary assessment of the tower. That included underestimation of the cost-benefit ratio, he said.

"They originally thought that we needed to have a tower built at a cost of $2.9 million," Chenoweth said. "They didn't even know we already have a tower.

Another mistake was the estimate on how much it costs to operate the tower. "They said it costs $450,000 when it only costs the government $170,000," he said. The FAA reimburses the city $170,000 to operate the tower.

"The reason for the confusion is that they assumed we were using FAA employees to run the tower," Chenoweth said. "We hire our own people and that's why we are able to do it at a significantly lower rate than what the FAA would charge."

The original cost-benefit ratio made by the FAA was .45, or 45 cents back on each dollar spent. Chenoweth said that after clearing up errors made by the FAA, the cost-benefit ratio is above 1.0.

"I made two trips to Washington to talk to FAA folks and make sure everything was accurate," he said. "I'm glad I did that, because I was able to set some things straight."

Three areas judged to determine the ratio are enplanements and use of the tower, the tower's link to business and the city's economy, and the tower's importance to the city's future.

"We serve a 10-county area in an 80-mile radius," Chenoweth said. "We're the biggest regional airport between St. Louis and Memphis and have a market that could reach a half-million people. Those kinds of numbers are hard to deny."

If the FAA turns down Chenoweth's proposal, the city will have to hire Midwest ATC to man the tower at a cost of about $206,000 a year. No contingency plan has been made by the city if the FAA rejects the city plan, Chenoweth said.

But Mayor Al Spradling III said the city has had discussions about various options.

"We're waiting to hear from the FAA, and then we'll go from there," Spradling said. "There is no question that we need to have an air-traffic control tower. But what has to be done to keep it depends on how the FAA rules."

Chenoweth said FAA officials told him cities that can justify the need for a control tower will keep what they already have.

"The FAA wants safety as much as we do," Chenoweth said. "When they see how much activity we have today and how much growth this city is capable of for the future, I don't see how they could say no."

Joplin Regional Airport Manager Steve Stockam said the FAA's preliminary assessment put his city's cost-benefit ratio at 0.63.

"When we went back and showed them that they were off on some figures it went up to .96," Stockam said. "I feel we can show that we return a dollar for every buck they spend on manning our airport tower."

One criterion is number of operations per day and year. An operation is defined by a takeoff, landing or instrument check.

Joplin had 47,000 operations last year for an average of 125 per day. Cape Girardeau had 24,449 operations last year.

Chenoweth said the transition from one fixed-based operation to another limited the number of potential operations.

"The FAA is very concerned with the safety of small aircraft," Stockam said. "I really believe they want to keep as many towers as they can, but the trend in Washington is to cut, cut, cut."

Stockam said U.S. Sen. Christopher Bond has been lobbying on behalf of Cape Girardeau and Joplin to keep the air-traffic control towers operating. "You've got to go to every possible source of strength to make sure the FAA knows how vital the tower is to your city," he said.