As this country’s air traffic control set-up segues into a satellite-based system, there’s going to be a new facility to coordinate it.
The Federal Aviation Administration www.faa.gov just started construction on a high-tech Air Traffic Control System Command Center near Warrenton, Virginia. Plans are for the 63,000-square-foot facility to be up and running in 2011.
The command center, which will replace the current site near Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), will oversee the breadth of this nation’s air traffic control. That includes towers, approach and departure facilities, and high-altitude control centers. It will also monitor all navigational aids.
It’s important to know that the 300 folks who work at the center don’t actually control air traffic. They oversee those who do, monitoring and coordinating ATC facilities, and those who use them – such as airlines and the United States military.
The center’s goal: manage the country’s airspace to balance capacity and demand – and deal with weather and other threats that disrupt that vital traffic.
The cost to equip the center? $46 million.
©Cheapflights Ltd Jerry Chandler
