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Double Eagle II Gets Traffic Control Tower
By Jeff Proctor Journal Staff Writer
In less than a week, all systems will be "go" for the air traffic control tower at Albuquerque's "other" airport -- Double Eagle II on the West Side.
Pending a final inspection from the Federal Aviation Administration set to take place Monday, Double Eagle II officials will have the key piece of their puzzle in place to deal with the major influx of traffic the airport has seen in recent years, said Jim Hinde, planning manager for the city's Aviation Department.
"We've gone from probably 100,000 operations -- that means takeoffs and landings -- in 2000 to about 150,000 last year," Hinde said in a telephone interview. "Let's just say there will be a whole lot of pilots out of Double Eagle II who will be really happy to see that tower get into operation."
Aside from the rise in business -- which includes general aviation, military and corporate jet flights coming in and out of the airport -- safety was chief among the reasons that made the tower a necessity, Hinde said.
"We really needed to make it a controlled airfield as opposed to an uncontrolled airfield, which it has always been," he said, explaining that "controlled" means tower operators control flight patterns and takeoff and landing order by giving instructions to pilots. An "uncontrolled" airfield features direct communication between pilots. In the case of the latter, the fixedbase operator on the ground does not give orders to pilots.
Part of officials' goal with the renovations at Double Eagle II, Hinde said, is to attract more corporate jet traffic.
"A lot of businesses have policies in place that say their aircraft can't land at general aviation airports that don't have a tower," he said. "We are really hoping our tower will bring more corporate jets."
Construction on the full-sized tower was completed in January 2007. The price tag was $2.8 million.
But a lot of work still had to be done before the three- or four- person staff of air traffic controllers could start overseeing the in and out of planes at the airport.
For $383,556, Hinde said, Double Eagle II's tower has been outfitted with the "latest and greatest, state-ofthe-art" equipment in the business, including: Touch-screen computers to control all air traffic operations Radios for communication Two separate weather- monitoring systems -- one at the airport and a computer feed from the National Weather Service A system to control all the lighting on the airfield Receiving equipment to pick up the radar feed from the FAA's station at Paseo del Norte and Louisiana NE
The tower will operate on a contract basis, Hinde said, meaning Double Eagle officials pay the costs of a private contractor to run the day-to-day operations, and the FAA reimburses them.
It won't operate around the clock, he said. Instead, the likely hours of operation will be from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
"We are extremely busy on the weekends, so there may be some longer hours on Saturdays and Sundays," Hinde said.
Sitting atop the tower will be what Hinde calls a "recycled cab." He explained the cab as the part of the tower where the controllers sit.
The one that will be in operation at Double Eagle II came from the old tower at the Albuquerque International Sunport, he said, after that tower was torn down in 2000.
Officials hauled the Sunport's old cab over to Double Eagle II, where it has been for the last seven years on blocks, Hinde said.
(c) 2008 Albuquerque Journal. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.
Double Eagle II Gets Traffic Control Tower
By Jeff Proctor Journal Staff Writer
In less than a week, all systems will be "go" for the air traffic control tower at Albuquerque's "other" airport -- Double Eagle II on the West Side.
Pending a final inspection from the Federal Aviation Administration set to take place Monday, Double Eagle II officials will have the key piece of their puzzle in place to deal with the major influx of traffic the airport has seen in recent years, said Jim Hinde, planning manager for the city's Aviation Department.
"We've gone from probably 100,000 operations -- that means takeoffs and landings -- in 2000 to about 150,000 last year," Hinde said in a telephone interview. "Let's just say there will be a whole lot of pilots out of Double Eagle II who will be really happy to see that tower get into operation."
Aside from the rise in business -- which includes general aviation, military and corporate jet flights coming in and out of the airport -- safety was chief among the reasons that made the tower a necessity, Hinde said.
"We really needed to make it a controlled airfield as opposed to an uncontrolled airfield, which it has always been," he said, explaining that "controlled" means tower operators control flight patterns and takeoff and landing order by giving instructions to pilots. An "uncontrolled" airfield features direct communication between pilots. In the case of the latter, the fixedbase operator on the ground does not give orders to pilots.
Part of officials' goal with the renovations at Double Eagle II, Hinde said, is to attract more corporate jet traffic.
"A lot of businesses have policies in place that say their aircraft can't land at general aviation airports that don't have a tower," he said. "We are really hoping our tower will bring more corporate jets."
Construction on the full-sized tower was completed in January 2007. The price tag was $2.8 million.
But a lot of work still had to be done before the three- or four- person staff of air traffic controllers could start overseeing the in and out of planes at the airport.
For $383,556, Hinde said, Double Eagle II's tower has been outfitted with the "latest and greatest, state-ofthe-art" equipment in the business, including: Touch-screen computers to control all air traffic operations Radios for communication Two separate weather- monitoring systems -- one at the airport and a computer feed from the National Weather Service A system to control all the lighting on the airfield Receiving equipment to pick up the radar feed from the FAA's station at Paseo del Norte and Louisiana NE
The tower will operate on a contract basis, Hinde said, meaning Double Eagle officials pay the costs of a private contractor to run the day-to-day operations, and the FAA reimburses them.
It won't operate around the clock, he said. Instead, the likely hours of operation will be from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
"We are extremely busy on the weekends, so there may be some longer hours on Saturdays and Sundays," Hinde said.
Sitting atop the tower will be what Hinde calls a "recycled cab." He explained the cab as the part of the tower where the controllers sit.
The one that will be in operation at Double Eagle II came from the old tower at the Albuquerque International Sunport, he said, after that tower was torn down in 2000.
Officials hauled the Sunport's old cab over to Double Eagle II, where it has been for the last seven years on blocks, Hinde said.
(c) 2008 Albuquerque Journal. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.
