Jet circles Zamboanga airport waiting for missing air traffic controllers {Gadling}

Jan 7th 2009 3:42PM Towered airport in America - 700+. Non-towered - 12,000+. How's it done? CTAF or Common Traffic Advisory Frequency. That's the proper term. Not UNICOM. Pilots around the airport talk to one another and coordinate traffic themselves, reporting every move, every turn. Every pilot knows this. Bush Intercontintental in Houston closes at night. In this bit, if the controllers were late, well, that's unusual but, it can be handled safely. And they did. This story isn't really that big of a deal.