A Rare Peek Into The OSH Control Tower
by ANN Correspondent Scott Wagner
I remember it well, even though it was probably 25 years ago. As
a kid, I was fortunate enough to come to Oshkosh, (in those days,
we didn't call it AirVenture) just about every year. On one of
those visits, I had a chance to go up into the tower, and thought
it was about the coolest thing I’d ever seen.
The last time I made it into any tower was pre-911, when
Operation Raincheck was available and my instructor organized a
visit for our ground school class to the tower at Pittsburgh
International Airport. So, when Pete Combs told me I was
going to the AirVenture tower during the morning arrival rush, I
literally jumped at the chance.
As we all know, for several days during AirVenture, Oshkosh
becomes the busiest control tower in the world. But the number of
operations doesn’t tell the whole story. Dig a little deeper
and you'll realize that AirVenture controllers cram it all into
less than 12 hours. The other big boys, Chicago O'Hare and Atlanta
Hartsfield have a full 24.
Given this rare chance to see what it's REALLY like up there, I
was obviously excited and just a little nervous. Being greeted
by three FAA security officers at the base of the tower did
little ease my nerves. I relaxed seconds later, though, as we
chatted about the similarities of our careers, given that my day
job is in personnel security for another agency of the federal
government.
Wanda Adelman is Air
Traffic Manager for AirVenture, and for the remainder of the year
is ATC Manager and Hub Manager at General Mitchell Field in
Milwaukee, which makes her responsible for all ATC in Wisconsin.
“It does get crazy sometimes, but our procedures have been
honed over the last 30 years. They’re really good procedures,
and that takes a little bit of the chaos out of the operation. We
do things here that you can’t do any other place, and we make
it work”
As we climbed the stairs, the memories came back, and
surprisingly little had changed in the years since I’d been
there. As I reached the top of the stairs, I was amazed by how
quiet it was. Everyone is extremely focused and calm. We've all
listened in to our handhelds, but it's not the same. The
controllers work together in teams of spotters and talkers. The
spotters are equipped with binoculars. They call out aircraft color
and type, and advise the talkers what needs to happen.
What you hear on the air is only about ¼ of what is
actually going on in there. It's a delicate dance, one which
managed to handle over 21,000 operations in 2005. That’s
pretty amazing.
After my time in the cab, I headed out to the flightline. I
wanted to speak with pilots who had flown in, to get their
perspective on AirVenture arrival procedures. “We had a great
flight. We came right across Ripon, they vectored us to Fisk, told
us which runway to go to, gave us directions and we came straight
in. No incidents whatsoever. It’s surprisingly well
organized, being a large event, I expected to have more conflict,
but it was a nice easy ride.” said Marvin McGraw of
Knoxville, TN.
Further praise for the controllers came from Greg Shaskan, who
flew his VariEze from Chicago. “I came in on the Fisk
arrival, and it was really east getting into Oshkosh. I was amazed
at how well the controllers and pilots worked together.”
When you think about it... it really is amazing how the
AirVenture ATC team is able to maintain such a great safety record,
in light of the enormous volume of traffic they handle. Without
them, AirVenture couldn’t happen.
If you see a controller during your time at AirVenture --
you’ll know them by their bright pink shirts -- make sure you
say hello and thank them for what they do.