Page 130 - Planning and Design of Airports

Air Traf fic Management 99

Airport Traffic Control Tower
The airport traffic control tower (ATCT) is the facility which super-
vises, directs, and monitors the arrival and departure traffic at the
airport and in the immediate airspace within 5 mi from the airport.
The tower is responsible for issuing clearances to all departing air-
craft, providing pilots with information on wind, temperature, baro-
metric pressure, and operating conditions at the airport, and for the
control of all aircraft on the ground except in the maneuvering area
immediately adjacent to the aircraft parking positions called the ramp
area. In the United States in 2007, there were more than 550 air traffic
control towers. While most towers are operated by the FAA, as of
January 2007, 233 were operated by the private sector under the
FAA’s contract tower program. The number of operating contract
towers, as they are known, has increased tremendously since the
inception of the program in 1982. Figure 3-1 provides an illustration
of the new ATCT, overshadowing the previously active ATCT, at the
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Atlanta, Georgia.

FIGURE 3-1 The new ATCT dwarfi ng the old tower at Hartsfi eld-Jackson
Atlanta International Airport (ATCmonitor.com).