My friend has already been laid off at the Ogden-Hinckley airport after decades of service. The Ogden, Utah airport will remain open WITHOUT the safety of air traffic control. The OGDEN tower makes sure planes don't crash into the F16s barreling out of nearby Hill Air force Base and nearby SLC Int'l Airport, which is a very busy Delta hub. The pilots choosing to fly into and out of Ogden will chat with each other to coordinate, as they are trained to do.
Provo will also be without air traffic control. Provo airport hosts the largest student flight school in the USA.
Both airports have been used as diversion landings for SLC during inclement weather..
So if you hear of any flight accidents near Salt Lake or Provo, Utah, God forbid......
There are a couple of videos and more details in the article below. This is not a sound decision by any stretch of the imagination. Some have even gone far to state that airports without air traffic control could become security threat. After 911 we might expect Congress to have voted to keep air traffic controllers in place for airfields near international hubs and/busy Air Force bases. But no.
You will find more details here
The airports will remain open, but pilots will be left to coordinate takeoffs and landings among themselves over a shared radio frequency with no help from ground controllers, under procedures that all pilots are trained to carry out.
Air traffic controllers in Ogden monitor three flight patterns at different altitudes arriving to and departing from Ogden, Salt Lake International and Hill Air Force Base, said Ogden airport manager Royal Eccles. With the Hill Air Force Base within four miles, Eccles even goes as far as to call the potential closure a "national security issue." Hill is a base for F-16s, and it will soon be a base for F-35s.
"There's going to be problems," Eccles said. "There will be safety concerns and ramification because of it."
About two-thirds of the flights at the Provo Airport are piloted by students enrolled at one of the country's largest flight schools at a nearby university, Gleason said.
One comment used the analogy of removing traffic lights at busy intersections.
149 air traffic towers are closing nationally.
Btw, my friend will be fine financially as long as a plane doesn't crash on his home near Ogden. I think the effective date is April 7, 2013.
It's becoming impossible to not hate the stupidity of Congress.