The FAA has put its first digital air traffic control towers into operation at Bartow Executive Airport in Florida and Kenai Municipal Airport in Alaska, the agency announced November 6. The systems use cameras and digital displays to give controllers a continuous 360-degree view of runways, taxiways and nearby airspace.
For pilots and operators at the two airports, the change is an air-traffic-control technology upgrade rather than a transfer of responsibility to an automated system. The FAA says controllers are still managing the airspace, with the digital equipment providing additional information to support their existing work. FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said the systems are intended to give controllers greater visibility and more information for critical decisions. AVweb’s report also describes features including high-definition cameras, sensors and displays; it reports that Bartow began operating its system in September.
The FAA said five more non-towered airports will receive digital towers: Winter Haven Regional and Venice Municipal in Florida, Montgomery County Airpark in Maryland, Johnston Regional in North Carolina, and Durango-La Plata County Airport in Colorado. The agency did not provide operating dates for those installations in the announcement, so the planned deployments should not be treated as current operational changes.
Neither fetched source identifies new flight procedures, affected carriers or traveler-facing schedule changes at Bartow or Kenai. The immediate documented effect is that controllers at those locations now have the new visual tools while continuing to provide air traffic services; operational details for the future installations remain unspecified.