• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Air Traffic Control Takes the Helm at Olive Branch Today -- The Tower, a Dream for Years, Becomes a Reality at Busy Airport

Posted on: Tuesday, 18 October 2005, 09:00 CDT

By Toni Lepeska lepeska@desotoappealcom

Olive Branch's air traffic control tower, expected to improve safety at the facility, becomes fully operational today .

Airport officials have been preparing for the moment for years. Officials lobbied for a tower for years. Finally they won approval from the federal government and came to an agreement about costs.

Construction was finished this summer on the $1.26 million, 63- foot tall, four-story tower.

The six-sided windowed top is where air traffic controllers will work, usually two at a time. It will be staffed 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., when the airport is busiest.

Thousands of airports across the country don't have traffic control towers, so pilots have been following the equivalent of "rules of the road" at the Olive Branch landing strip. For example, pilots "circle left" to communicate plans to land.

Now with an operational tower, pilots will have to communicate their intentions to air traffic controllers and get permission to take off or land.

With about 300 takeoffs and landings a day, the airport is one of the state's busiest.

David Taylor, airport manager, believes having someone control air traffic may attract more business to the airport. Jet pilots have told him they won't return until the tower is working - it's just too scary not to have one at such a busy airport.

The airport, owned by Belz Enterprises, opened in 1973. The runway has undergone three expansions in two decades, bringing it to 6,000 feet, and more than 50 hangars have been added.

- Toni Lepeska: (901)333-2015

Source: Commercial Appeal, The

More News in this Category