New Control Facility Gets A Shakedown At AirVenture '08

by ANN Correspondent Dave Slosson

As you enter the grounds of Wittman Regional Airport this year, you'll see a new sight from almost anywhere on the grounds. The new control tower is up and operational!

Originally funded in late 2003 to be 120 feet tall and cost $4 million in state money, the design, physical location, height of the tower and size of the base building all changed. To accommodate the AirVenture controller numbers, functions, and needs, the base building was enlarged. To improve the sightlines of the controllers, the location was changed and the tower was made another 20 feet taller.

All the changes delayed the building process such that construction finally was started in the spring of 2007 and completed in mid-May of 2008 at a cost of between $6.4M and $7 million. Finishing the installation and testing of the equipment took the other month and a half before operations were commenced on July 1.

Building a control tower is a complicated undertaking. Siting was done through computer simulation at the FAA Technical Center in Atlantic City, NJ. This optimized the placement of the tower on the field, taking into account all the existing and future placement of runway, taxiways, trees, buildings and roads. This ensured the tower was tall enough without being too tall, as the Tech Center staff can literally put a tower anywhere on the field they want and show you a view from any height.

The staff runs simulated traffic to your runways while you look out the windows of your future tower. It is the epitome of airport sims.

So with the tower site and height established, the architect designed and built it to suit the site. Omnni Associates of Appleton, WI designed this tower. Then the general contractor was hired from bids, and they subcontracted the electrical, mechanical, and construction jobs that develop the site. The general contractor for Oshkosh tower was Miron Construction Company of Neenah, WI.

Overseeing the building process were FAA engineers, who protect the building codes of the federal government and make sure the contractors build things according to plan. Once the equipment started to arrive for the controllers, another contractor was involved in the placement and installation. Racks of equipment were installed in the equipment room and cables run up the tower shaft to the controller positions in the tower cab.

A working group, usually consisting of a management representative from the FAA, and the union representative from NATCA, representing the controllers, decides placement in the cab. Since a union does not represent the Oshkosh contract controllers, the tower manager worked with the FAA and sought input from the controllers. 

Once all the equipment was installed, testing began. Oshkosh tower is not a 24-hour facility, so most of the testing was done at night during closure hours. This minimized the impact to the operation. Cutover, the changing of operations from the old tower to the new, was also accomplished by ending operations in the old cab on the night of June 30, and beginning operations July 1 in the new facility. The Tech Ops personnel and the FAA and contract personnel changed cable connections and threw switches during the night to make sure the morning operation would be seamless. In the haste to make the move before this year's AirVenture, there are still some equipment moves to be made. The phone lines and landlines still ring in both the old and new towers.

The transmitters and receivers are still located in the old tower and are being activated by the new voice switch via a long underground cable. Since the two towers are only about 500' apart, this is not a problem or a safety issue in any way. Once AirVenture is over, the cutover will be completed; the new tower will be totally isolated, and the old tower will be demolished. Glitches that have been encountered post-move are minor, such as phone lines ringing in the wrong location, or some grounding issues on the voice switch. While annoying, they are not safety issues and are dealt with on a case-by-case basis. Most of today's air traffic equipment is run by computers and is pretty complex, but any problem is also easily resolved as the software helps troubleshoot the issue.

But let's look at what the city of Oshkosh and EAA AirVenture gain from this new state-of-the-art tower. The controllers' views are now 65' higher and unobstructed so they can see every taxiway, every ramp and every approach to the runways. This adds a great deal of safety to the operation. The new tower cab is 525 square feet, compared to the old brick tower that had 325 square feet.

If you were ever lucky enough to get a tour of the tower while the controllers were working AirVenture, you saw how crowded the conditions were up there. Generally, there are at least 10 controllers working the positions, two supervisors or managers overseeing the operation and coordinating with the teams on the field and at Fisk, and a few other controllers hanging out on break. Now add in the tour groups and news media and you get the picture.

The old tower also had serious ventilation problems and poor traffic flow through the cab. The new tower has more airflow with its own heating and cooling unit for the tower cab and level below. The stairs don't come up in the middle of the south local controller group, like they did in the old tower, so there's another enhancement to the operation. The placement of the supervisor's position also helps the people flow in the cab.

Operationally, each position now has 4 jacks for the controllers, allowing each of the local control teams to be plugged into and monitoring all the radio transmissions simultaneously. It also gives each local control team flexibility as to where they want to stand to run their operation. South local can stand at the south side of the cab for running Runway 36 operations, or on the east side of the cab for Runway 18 operations. Similarly, north local can stand at either the northeast corner for Runway 27 or on the north side for Runway 9 operations. For IFR coordination with Milwaukee approach control, they now have a STARS monitor to see where the IFR arrivals are anywhere on the approach. In previous years, they had to bring in a monitor and tie it to the center's radar to have an idea where the traffic was located, but the traffic was lost on radar as they descended on the approach. This is an enhancement that will benefit the airport and its users year-round.

In the new base building of roughly 6000 square feet, there is a large training room, large enough to hold 25 people. This is where the controllers and EAA flight line operations people will have their pre- and post-shift safety briefings every day of AirVenture. I'm sure a good use of this space can be found the other 51 weeks of the year, such as training new controllers for Oshkosh tower, holding pilot/controller meetings, or letting Tech Ops people spread out their plans when they need to do so. There is an office for the Technical Operations group, which has 3 technicians assigned full-time to Oshkosh and one temporary tech that comes down from Green Bay on occasion. They work in the new equipment room, generator room, and boiler room for the day-to-day operations. The controllers and Tech Ops personnel share a break room with a kitchen. The manager's office for AirVenture is also in the base building and will be used the other 51 weeks for storage of AirVenture related equipment, such as the radio belts the controllers wear when working the MOOCOWs. An administrative office is used mostly for AirVenture, but can be utilized by the Oshkosh staff during the rest of the year as well. Apparently, as I have observed in other new towers being built in the last couple years, storage availability is at a premium, with no dedicated storage rooms being built. Equipment backups, printer paper, and all the necessary pieces and parts that have to be stored to maintain all the equipment and the building gets stuffed into any available corner, shelf, or storage cabinet one can find.

So this year, when you tell someone you'll meet them at the tower at a particular time, be sure to tell them which tower, the old or the new. If it's the new, there's a large security fence surrounding the tower, so you may want to specify a corner or side of the compound. Regardless, it's a beautiful new landmark and a great safety enhancement to Wittman Regional Airport and especially AirVenture. Enjoy the show!

Our thanks to Wanda Adelman, Milwaukee tower manager and Oshkosh tower manager during AirVenture, and Paul Drobnik, Tech Ops technician, for contributing to this article.

FMI: www.airventure.org