FAA Has Clearer View of World’s Busiest Airport in Oshkosh, Wis.

By Steve Wideman, The Post-Crescent, Appleton, Wis.

Jul. 16–OSHKOSH — Mike Schmid is no stranger to building construction.

As a project manager for Miron Construction Co., Schmid figured building a new air traffic control tower at Wittman Regional Airport would be pretty much the same as most other buildings.

“When we first started I thought, ‘How hard can it be? It’s one room on a stick,’ ” Schmid said.

But with the tower’s control room a 40-foot-tall, 35-foot-diameter octagon with protruding windows, this was not your normal building with nice square corners.

Officials of the Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday opened the $6 million, federally funded tower for media access, less than two weeks before the start of the Experimental Aircraft Association’s AirVenture 2008 convention.

AirVenture, which begins July 28, annually draws about 10,000 aircraft, ranging from homebuilts the size of a grand piano to some of the world’s largest planes, like the Boeing 747 and C-5 Galaxy.

On two days during AirVenture 2007, aircraft landings and takeoffs surpassed Chicago O’Hare and Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, making Wittman the busiest airport in the world.

Contracted air traffic controllers began operating in the new tower on July 1.

FAA controllers will use the tower for the first time at this year’s AirVenture.

“It’s exciting to be a part of something that’s going to be here for a long time,” Schmid said.

The EAA is preparing to embark on a 10-year, $17 million expansion and improvement of its facilities at Wittman.

The long-term project will be financed entirely by the EAA and private funds, said EAA spokesman Dick Knapinski.

Miron, based in the Town of Menasha, built the existing tower in 1963 at a cost of $150,407 and is scheduled to demolish it in September.

The new control tower is 116 feet from the ground to the cab floor and 141 feet to the top of the roof antenna, compared with 60 feet for the old tower.

The new tower allows air traffic controllers to see all four corners of the airport for the first time, said Wanda Adelman, the FAA’s chief air traffic controller during AirVenture.

Adelman praised Miron for completing the tower in time for it to be used this year, rather than 2009 as feared this time last year.

“Miron really pushed to get the tower done, and it’s incredible,” said Adelman, who will supervise 64 volunteer FAA air traffic controllers from across the country during AirVenture.

Wittman, which has no scheduled air carriers but caters to several aviation-related businesses, normally has one or two contracted air traffic controllers on duty.

“The tower’s control room is a little big for two controllers, but it was designed for AirVenture when we have 15 controllers working at one time,” Adelman said.

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