Including Hagerstown News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Flight 2455 carrying three passengers leaves hagerstown, maryland, headed for nearby dulles airport. >> see you later. >> reporter: a half hour trip. it's one of up to six commercial flights a day. >> run way 27 -- >> reporter: today there is a controller in the tower, but the question is for how long. virtually every airport faces controller furloughs. but scores of small to medium sized airports, including hagerstown, could be forced to close their towers. phil ridnour is the airport's director. >> without the control tower here, we don't have the extra sets of eyes to watch over the airport...

You take the stoplight away and it's a free for all. >> reporter: the faa says any changes would not impact safety. even if the tower closes, commercial recreational and military flights would still take off and land. pilots would be controlled by a center 60 miles away. for this flight instructor, that poses a problem. >> we have to revamp our services to get our students to a location where we can be talking on tower frequency. >> reporter: some republicans say concerns about the impact of forced spending cuts are exaggerat exaggerated. >> the sky is falling mentality permeates some of the e...