Contact Center Solutions Industry News

TMCNet: PBIA's new air traffic control tower won't open until late next year

[November 29, 2012]

PBIA's new air traffic control tower won't open until late next year

Nov 29, 2012 (Sun Sentinel - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- More than two years old, the newest air traffic control tower at Palm Beach International Airport still sits unused as air traffic controllers continue to monitor airspace from a nearly 40-year-old tower on the other side of the airport.

"It's a very old, very dilapidated structure," said Mitch Herrick, a South Florida representative for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.

But by the end of next year, the new 248-foot tower finally will be move-in ready, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

However, the 120-foot old tower, built in the early 1970s, is still sticking around for at least a few more years. And PBIA will have two working air traffic control towers.

The FAA is in the midst of connecting voice and data communications between the two towers since the Terminal Radar Approach Control, which is responsible for communicating with planes 40 to 50 miles away from the airport area, still will be housed in the base of the old tower.

While the approach controllers work at the base of the tower, the tower controllers work from the top of the tower and are responsible for giving planes clearance to land or take off.

"To complete that connection [between the two towers], work is under way on the electrical system in the tower, and the FAA has to install an underground fiber optic system from the new tower to the TRACON, located in the base of the current tower building," the FAA said in a statement.

Eventually, though, that connection will be useless as the old tower is going to be demolished after PBIA gets a new state-of-the-art TRACON in 2015 that will be installed in a new building adjacent to the new tower.

None of this is how it was originally planned, and that explains the nearly three-year delay in getting the new tower operational.

The FAA had planned on building a new tower at PBIA without a new radar system. That service was going to be moved to Miami.

The air traffic controllers union objected to the move, raising concerns about safety and not having a back-up system in South Florida if the Miami radar system were disabled.

Still, the FAA moved forward with building the new tower. It was nearly complete in October 2010 when the FAA stopped work on it as it negotiated with the union over the location of the new radar system.

South Florida's congressional delegation sided with the union. And in October 2011, the FAA decided to keep the radar system at PBIA.

In addition to connecting the two towers, more work was needed at the new tower to make it operational.

"Before the FAA can commission the new tower, the agency also has to install other critical technology and communications equipment, develop specific air traffic procedures, and train air traffic controllers on those procedures," the FAA also said in its statement.

About another $1 million of work is needed at the new tower. The total cost of the project is $19 million.

astreeter@tribune.com or 561-243-6537 ___ (c)2012 the Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) Visit the Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) at www.sun-sentinel.com Distributed by MCT Information Services

[ Back To Contact Center Solutions Homepage's Homepage ]


Related Contact Center Solutions Articles
[ View all Contact Center Solutions Articles ]

FOLLOW US

Contact Center Solutions Glossary of Terms

Featured Whitepaper

    Microsoft® Lync® in the Contact Center: Integrating with Customer Interaction Center™ to Provide a Barrier‐free Customer Experience To implement contact center functionality, organizations using Microsoft Lync Server 2010 can follow the unified communications blueprint of open standards interoperability and integrate to a contact center solution of their choice. Customer Interaction Center (CIC) from Interactive Intelligence is a proven best of breed contact center solution that merits consideration ...

Featured Success Story

    Contact Center Solutions Featured Success Story
    Interactive Intelligence all-in-one IP communications software suite integrated with Microsoft Lync helps Bentley save $200,000 annually.

Featured Product Demo

    Contact Center Solutions Interaction Analyzer™
    Interaction Analyzer™
    Real-time word and phrase spotting. Alerting. Analytics. Scoring. Coaching. Watch how Interaction Analyzer turns every moment, of every past and present call, into data that lets you deliver an exceptional customer experience.

Featured Resources

Ask the Expert

Press Releases