Sequester prompts Yeager to buy pilot-activated runway lights

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- To prepare for plans to drop an overnight air traffic controllers' shift at Yeager Airport as part of federal sequester-mandated spending cuts, the Charleston airport's governing board voted Thursday to install a remote-control system that allows approaching private pilots to activate runway lights.

In the absence of controllers in Yeager's tower between midnight and 5 a.m., the airport's runway, taxiway and centerline lights would be turned off. Airport Director Rick Atkinson said it would cost as much to leave the lights burning during the overnight shift for one month as it would to pay for the $13,400 remote-control system. Currently, air traffic controllers activate the lights as aircraft approach the airport.