As Eugene Otterbein directs pilots to safety at the city airport�s Flight Service Station, he and the other employees who work there worry about losing their jobs if a federal plan supporting privatization goes through.

�If you take about 50 jobs out of the east end of Lycoming County, with an estimated annual $3 million payroll, not only are we talking about the safety aspect, but an economic impact on the east end of Lycoming County,� said Otterbein. �It affects our wives and children, who are going to schools, working jobs. It affects the taxes we pay, the homes we own.�

Employed by the Federal Aviation Administration, Otterbein is an air traffic controller at the Williamsport Regional Airport, which hosts one of 58 Flight Service Stations in the United States that could be contracted to the private sector under a bidding procedure or consolidated with other stations.

After sharp declines in the Aviation Trust Fund, the FAA authorized a feasibility study to decide where to conserve money. Completed in July 2002, the study determined that the Flight Service Stations� functions could be performed by an outside vendor.

But Otterbein, who has been employed at the city�s service station for 17 years, is skeptical, given the critical jobs performed at the stations in a post-September 11, 2001, world.

�We distribute notices to airmen and safety-related information. After 9-11, the flight service station had to provide information to the pilot about what he can do and can�t do, � said Otterbein.

He explained that if the president were flying into the area, the Flight Service Station must create a safety circle and inform pilots not to fly in or out temporarily. Those types of functions should remain under FAA control, he said.

Four firms have made offers to the FAA, and the agency has submitted its own bid, according to an FAA release. A decision must be made no later than March 17 and could come as early as this month, said union representative Paul Chilbert, who is also an air traffic controller.

At the present time, Chilbert, Otterbein and the other employees at the service station are just waiting for the next FAA announcement.

�I think what�s causing the main stress in the station is the unknown,� said Otterbein, who could retire in 2007 if his job remains. �It�s difficult to make plans. Will I be here next year? Should I buy that house?�
Chilbert would like the station to remain under FAA control due to the critical safety and security information handled by the employees, but if the FAA decides to consolidate the station with others in the eastern region, it should remain in Williamsport, he said.

�There are 50 jobs right now. Let�s jump it up to 150,� he said.

Chilbert knows it is not that easy. Other nearby flight service stations such as Buffalo, N.Y., and Altoona, have union representatives who are pushing for the stations to remain in their cities, too, if the FAA decides to combine them.

And that consolidation would not be troublesome due to advances in computerization and telecommunications. But Otterbein and Chilbert said there is a major loss � specialization.

�If a weather specialist in New York is briefing a pilot in southern Virginia, he has no way of being that familar with what is happening in southern Virginia other than what is happening with his computer,� Chilbert said.

Otterbein said there is a ridge to the south of the city that will cause a low-level wind shear, and that type of knowledge comes with knowing the area well and is not always indicated on a computer system.
�Someone three states away is not going to get warned. There is no way he could know the winds in Williamsport,� he said.

Otterbein said he saw similar effects when a weather station was removed from the city and forecasts originated from State College.

�We are finding that they are not as accurate as they used to be,� said Otterbein, who added that consolidating stations would produce the same negative result. �All the little idiosyncrasies could be lost.�

Local governments have given support to the station over the past few months through letters to the federal government, but several said the situation is simply out of their hands.

�We can and we have put forth our concern, but the decision-making will not be made on a local level,� said county Commissioner Rebecca A. Burke.

Although there exists more than one way to perform the functions of the stations, Jerry Walls, commission executive director, hopes to retain the flight station here, he said.

�At this point, I think it is a federal process that has to unfold,� Walls said.

Thomas Hart, executive director of the airport, said he does not want to comment until the FAA has made a final decision.