OSHKOSH, Wisconsin — For one week every year, the air traffic control
tower at the small airport here is the busiest in the world. And today,
on the world Air Traffic Controllers day, it is the busiest day of all
for the hand-picked all-star crew of controllers who will handle more
than 3,000 flights in just 10 hours.
On a normal day, Wittman Regional Airport might see a few hundred
take-offs and landings. But more than 10,000 aircraft from around the
world descend on Oshkosh for the week-long AirVenture aviation show. On
a slow day the controllers might direct 1,500 flights. Some days see
more than 2,000. But with many of those who arrived early in the week
heading home — and those coming in for the weekend arriving — Thursday
is usually the busiest day of the week.
On this day last year, the tower directed 3,035 flights in just 10
hours. That’s about 400 more than the crew at Atlanta-Hartsfield
International Airport — usually the busiest in the world — handled on
the same day, and the flights coming into Atlanta were spread out over
24 hours. Oshkosh tower manager and veteran controller Wanda Adelman
told Wired.com there are some bragging rights that come with the job
here, “we actually beat O’Hare” she says referring to the Chicago
airport which is the busiest in the region, “we beat Atlanta too, but
nobody cares about Atlanta. They just want to know that we beat O’Hare.”
That kind of pace (and competitive spirit) requires incredible skill,
which is why only the best air traffic controllers get the gig in
Oshkosh. AirVenture is called the Super Bowl of air traffic control, but
the 50 men and women directing all that traffic don’t get a ring.
They get a bright pink polo shirt that is one of the most sought-after
prizes of their profession.
Inside the air traffic control tower at AirVenture.
There are two runways at Wittman, one that runs east-west and another
that runs north-south. But during AirVenture, the Federal Aviation
Administration issues a special exception that divides the runways into
multiple “lanes” to handle the increased traffic. (See the map below.)
The north-south runway (18-36, for you pilots) is broken into several
smaller sections. It is split down the middle so pilots can land on the
left and right sides. There are four sections marked by colored dots.
Pilots are instructed to land on a specific dot, which means two
airplanes can land almost simultaneously on each half of the runway.
The east-west runway (09-27) also is similarly sectioned, with pilots
directed to land on a specific dot. All of this slicing and dicing of
the runway allows controllers to land multiple airplanes simultaneously.
At peak traffic times, there may be as many as 10 airplanes coming or
going per minute.
It’s a carefully choreographed ballet that requires the utmost attention
from both the controllers and the pilots, who must read a
32-page
guideline (.pdf) of the procedure. Flying into or out of
Wittman during AirVenture can be unnerving for the uninitiated, as
pilots often find themselves flying much closer to other airplanes than
they typically would.
“We try as hard as we can to keep the noise level down, keep our voices
calm” Adelman says, “because when people fly into Oshkosh it’s a lot
more traffic than they’re used to and the anxiety level can get high.”
Controllers in the tower are joined by controllers in checkpoints in the
towns of Ripon and Fisk who talk to the pilots as they get closer to
Oshkosh. Fisk is considered a “visual radar,” where instead of following
blips on a screen, controllers on the ground track planes through
binoculars and guide them into the airport.
Controllers in nearby Fisk track the planes from the ground, aiding
those in the tower back in Oshkosh.
We flew into Wittman on Monday aboard a Cessna 172 sandwiched between a
Piper Super Cub and a Beechcraft Bonanza. Only a half mile or so
separated us as we approached Oshkosh. A conga line of 20 airplanes
stretched all the way to the airport. It’s unusual to be so closely
spaced, and everyone’s head is on a swivel to make sure no one gets too
close. About a mile from Wittman the line was broken as different
airplanes were directed to different runways, then assigned to different
dots on the runway. We were told to put the Cessna down on the green
dot.
Once we were on the ground, we paid a visit to the control tower.
Traffic was light — by AirVenture standards — with about 1,500 or so
planes expected. It’s a new tower this year, with a taller model which
puts the controllers at 121 feet replacing the classic old brick tower
(where controllers were at 53 feet) that came down after last year’s
show.
The controllers love the view from the new tower which has rid them of a
blind spot they had to deal with with the old tower, “especially the
approach end of runway nine, the joke used to be that you would lose the
aircraft underneath the trees” Adelman recalls, “when they would go down
below the trees a Mooney would go in and a Cessna would go out.”
Inside, there are two teams of controllers at any given time. Each team
has two people. One keeps watch over the airfield and the airspace
through binoculars and relays information to the other person, who
communicates with the pilots.
It feels like controlled chaos inside the tower. Controllers are talking
a mile a minute as they track many more airplanes than they would on a
normal day. Yet everyone is cool and calm. Everyone’s wearing pink, of
course. One unique aspect of flying into AirVenture is pilots are
instructed not to talk back to the tower. Instead, pilots are told to
rock their wings to acknowledge they understand what the controller is
telling them without clogging up the radio with excess chatter.
Despite all the traffic and the frantic pace on the runway, there has
never been an air-to-air accident at AirVenture.
