First Remote Tower in the US

The whole idea of a remote tower is to work the airport remotely with controllers who don’t have much activity outside their window.

-Skip
 
FNL has been a remote tower for years.
 
Velocity173 said:
Selma? Went there a few years back and the place was a ghost town. Gonna be some bored controllers working that place.

https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/craig-field-to-get-u-s-s-first-remote-tower-atc-center/
Click to expand...

Maybe the purpose was to have low volume airports to test first before throwing in a busier one?

Although I can't help but note the story mentions hiring 28 addition staff to manage the remote tower. Even at $50k per year, than is $1.4 million annually in payroll alone. Cheaper isn't cheap.
 
midwestpa24 said:
Maybe the purpose was to have low volume airports to test first before throwing in a busier one?

Although I can't help but note the story mentions hiring 28 addition staff to manage the remote tower. Even at $50k per year, than is $1.4 million annually in payroll alone. Cheaper isn't cheap.
Click to expand...
It's not about 'the remote tower.' It's about remote towers. It's the place where Remote Controllers are going to work from. It will have many Airports fed into it
 
luvflyin said:
It's not about 'the remote tower.' It's about remote towers. It's the place where Remote Controllers are going to work from. It will have many Airports fed into it
Click to expand...

Not the way the story worded it, but we all know how accurate the media is.

"Advanced ATC plans to invest $4.7 million in the Remote Tower Air Traffic Control Center along with hiring 28 people for Craig Field operations in the first year."
 
Could this place just be uncontrolled?


Those poor money printers are going to wear out at this rate.
 
Why not remote to JAX? Then the tower will be launching aircraft into airspace that the ATC person is familiar with, and the same traffic that they are presently controlling. Transitions from tower to enroute should be smoother too.

It has been many years since I last landed at Craig, but the many times that I did when my wife's sister lived there, they were the best small airport controllers that I have ever dealt with. I was on first name basis with a few.

Pre cell phones, I requested a landing on a runway different from the current active, but with no wind. That was approved, I gunned the engine several times crossing my in-law's house to alert them to come get us, and landed. The tower then returned to their preferred no wind runway. I went to the tower to thank them for the willingness to go above and beyond to provide the finest service possible. The controller who had done the deed thanked me, and said the FAA seemed to agree, as they had just promoted him to tower chief, effective at the end of the month.

MAJOR EDIT

The airport at Selma is named Craig, just as the executive airport at Jacksonville is. My comments were believing that the Craig going remote was at Jacksonville.

Testing the remote concept from a facility a few miles away should make a safe proof of concept.
 
Last edited:
Mtns2Skies said:
FNL has been a remote tower for years.
Click to expand...
No it hasn't. ATC at FNL is being done from a mobile tower. The just did the first part of the test--monitoring the traffic being controlled by controllers in the mobile tower--this Spring (the program was delayed due to Covid).
 
Advanced is trying to put the infrastructure in place to manage a number of remote towers at one center. Advanced runs an ATC school, does consulting work, and also operates a few towers. They are a smaller cousin to the contract tower operators, Midwest and RVA.

Here is the concept actualized: https://kommunikasjon.ntb.no/presse...blisherId=17507039&releaseId=17934715&lang=en

Remote Tower testing in the US is ongoing at FNL in CO, Leesburg in VA, and the USAF has 4 under evaluation. I wouldn't hold my breath but they will eventually gain traction in the US for some use cases.
 
Velocity173 said:
Selma? Went there a few years back and the place was a ghost town. Gonna be some bored controllers working that place.

https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/craig-field-to-get-u-s-s-first-remote-tower-atc-center/
Click to expand...
Craig Field is the former Craig AFB that was shuttered in the early 70’s. There is not much happening there with the exception of fueling military aircraft. Lot of that happens there. Selma is severely economically depressed, but gets a lot of federal attention. I am not at all surprised this is happening there. Fun fact…..the VOR at SEM was decommissioned the day before my check ride……..guess which VOR I had planned to use??? Yep, I failed to read the notam. Thankfully, the DPE just said…..well, what are you gonna do? I had a quick answer and he didn’t bust me.
 
Mike Smith said:
Craig Field is the former Craig AFB that was shuttered in the early 70’s. There is not much happening there with the exception of fueling military aircraft. Lot of that happens there. Selma is severely economically depressed, but gets a lot of federal attention. I am not at all surprised this is happening there. Fun fact…..the VOR at SEM was decommissioned the day before my check ride……..guess which VOR I had planned to use??? Yep, I failed to read the notam. Thankfully, the DPE just said…..well, what are you gonna do? I had a quick answer and he didn’t bust me.
Click to expand...

Yeah I’ve seen some of the old pics from the 70s with the ramp full of T-38s. That place used to be a major training base for the AF. I stopped in a few years back ferrying a helicopter. Looked like the sat image. Empty ramp.
 
When did the FNL tower become staffed?

I’ve been flying there a few times per year for several years, and at first they said it was a remote tower. There was some publicity when that started.

There was a little tower cab at midfield, low to the ground. The word “tower” is a bit of hyperbole, but what else can you call it. I guessed it merely had cameras.

But lately there’s been a vehicle or two parked there by the cab, which made wonder if someone is spending time in it. Maybe maintenance, I thought. But until I read this thread I didn’t realize it might actually have a live controller in it.

If it went from remote to staffed, I actually didn’t notice anything different, as a pilot.
 
NoHeat said:
When did the FNL tower become staffed?

I’ve been flying there a few times per year for several years, and at first they said it was a remote tower. There was some publicity when that started.

There was a little tower cab at midfield, low to the ground. The word “tower” is a bit of hyperbole, but what else can you call it. I guessed it merely had cameras.

But lately there’s been a vehicle or two parked there by the cab, which made wonder if someone is spending time in it. Maybe maintenance, I thought. But until I read this thread I didn’t realize it might actually have a live controller in it.

If it went from remote to staffed, I actually didn’t notice anything different, as a pilot.
Click to expand...
I believe they started controlling from the mobile tower in March, 2020. I don't think they have ever controlled from the 'remote tower.'
 
They are also training ATC folks at Selma, that may be part of the staffing.

I fly at both Selma and Gulf Shores regularly. Gulf Shores has a BRAND NEW tower, and they have NOTHING but two pairs of binoculars, and pen and paper…. Selma’s remote tower will have EVERYTHING else, and no binoculars… ironic, and likely better. Took a minute for me to wrap my head around that.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top