The sequestration budget cuts hit too close to home for Timmerman Airport. The airfield in the northwestern corner of Milwaukee county might be losing its air traffic control tower less than a month from today, on April 7.

The Timmerman Air Traffic Control Tower, like eight other similar towers in Wisconsin, is privately operated by Midwest Air Traffic Control Services through a contract with the FAA. But because of the recent cuts to federal spending, the FAA has proposed closing eight of the nine contract towers in Wisconsin and 173 others around the country by April 7.

And there are many who aren’t too happy about it.

Daniel Gerard, chief flight instructor with Gran Aire, Inc., located at Timmerman, says that it’s first and foremost a safety issue.

"While many airplanes operate safely out of non-tower controlled airports every day, I feel that having an operating control tower, especially in a densely populated urban setting, provides an extra layer of safety," he told OnMilwaukee.com.

"The control tower helps improve pilots' awareness of other aircraft and streamlines the flow of air traffic into and out of the airport, minimizing flights over the houses of the airport's neighbors, and creates a safer environment for everyone."

Gerard also pointed out that, thanks to the ATC, Timmerman had no runway incursions in 2012 and no pilot deviations, despite increasing its traffic by 10 percent (to 30,000 airport operations, including landings and takeoffs). Gerard said that the ATC’s benefits include gear-up landing prevention, wildlife awareness (only one bird strike occurred last year), avoidance of mid-air collisions and improved safety for airport workers, pilots and the environment as a whole.

And with the closure of ATC towers at Class D airports like Timmerman, there will be "an influx of general aviation pilots and student pilots at Class C airports as pilots practice and gain experience communicating with air traffic control," Gerard said in a separate email.

"How many passengers do you think will be happy to know that student pilots are flying solo and taking off and landing at the same airport their airline is taking off or landing at?"

The FAA is offering an appeals window until March 13 for pilots to provide comments from the public to save a particular tower. Comments can be mailed to ClosureComments@FAA.gov.

For more information on the sequestration cuts and the campaign to save the Timmerman ATC, visit natca.org.