Air-traffic control towers have no humans inside

Associated Press

NEW YORK

Passengers landing at remote Ornskoldsvik Airport in northern Sweden might catch a glimpse of the control tower – likely unaware there is nobody inside.

The dozen commercial planes landing there each day instead are watched by cameras, guided in by controllers viewing the video at another airport 90 miles away.

Ornskoldsvik is the first airport in the world to use such technology. Others in Europe are testing the idea, as is one airport in the United States. Though the majority of the world’s airports will, for some time, still have controllers on site, experts say unmanned towers are coming. They’ll likely first go into use at small and medium airports, but eventually even the world’s largest airports could see an array of cameras mounted on a pole replacing their concrete control towers.

The companies building these remote systems say their technology is cheaper and better than traditional towers.

Cameras spread out around an airport eliminate blind spots and give controllers more-detailed views. Infrared can supplement images in rain, fog or snow, and other cameras can include thermal sensors to see if animals stray onto the runway at the last second.

None of those features are – yet – in the Swedish airport because of regulatory hurdles.

Ornskoldsvik Airport is a vital lifeline for residents who want to get to Stockholm and the rest of the world. But with just 80,000 annual passengers, it can’t justify the cost of a full-time control staff – about $175,000 a year in salary, benefits and taxes for each of six controllers.

In April, after a year and a half of testing a system designed by Saab, all the controllers left Ornskoldsvik. Now, an 80-foot tall mast housing 14 high-definition cameras sends the signal back to the controllers, stationed at Sunvsal Airport. No jobs have been eliminated, but ultimately such systems will allow tiny airports to pool controllers.

Leesburg Executive Airport in Virginia is a relatively busy airport with 300 daily takeoffs and landings. Just a few miles from Dulles International Airport, Leesburg does not have its own control tower. Saab has built a system for Leesburg and on Aug. 3 started a three-month test with the Federal Aviation Administration.