El Paso’s 10-day airspace closure would have been unprecedented

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA)-- Micheal McCormick, a former FAA employee with decades of experience, told ABC-7 that a 10 day closure would have been unprecedented.

"I have never heard of a TFR going into use for ten days of this size, this magnitude impacting a major metropolitan area with a major commercial airport. So this was unique in my 40 plus years experience in air traffic control," said McCormick.

He also said the Federal Aviation Administration was not required to notify the city of El Paso before closing local airspace.

Mayor Renard Johnson recently criticized the federal government over the closure and what he described as a lack of communication with the city.

Michael McCormick, who worked in air traffic with the FAA for 33 years and has more than 40 years of experience in the aviation field, said the agency has authority over all U.S. airspace. He said decisions to close airspace are made by the FAA administrator, currently Bryan Bedford.

However, McCormick said the FAA would typically alert city officials if a closure were expected to have a significant impact, such as lasting 10 days.

He said the notice regarding El Paso’s airspace was implemented quickly, leaving no opportunity for federal officials to coordinate with city leaders. With collaboration, he said, the impact of a closure could have been minimized.

“They would collaborate with local law enforcement. They might collaborate with local leaders in the community and help to be able to design what the airspace is going to be in order to minimize impact to communities and minimize impact to the flying public,” McCormick said. “That didn’t happen in this case.”