Inside Phoenix Sky Harbor’s Air Traffic Control Tower & TRACON

The new Tower – at 320 feet overall –provides air traffic controllers with unobstructed views of the entire airfield, and permits visual and electronic monitoring of takeoffs, landings, and ground movement of aircraft. It is 300 feet to the control room cab with the cab area totaling 850-square-feet. The cab was designed with three feet of space between the rear of the controller consoles and the tower’s exterior walls. This will allow easy access to equipment for maintenance and repairs, without disturbance to air traffic operations. The construction value is $58 million and was delivered to the FAA with a guaranteed maximum price contract.

Integrated into the same structure as the Tower, the new 60,000-square-foot, 48-radar position TRACON will enhance controllers’ ability to monitor and control aircraft as they approach or depart the airport area. The TRACON features FAA’s new Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS), which has two fully redundant backup systems.

The Tower and TRACON’s voice and data transmission lines link up with the fiber-optic loop already in place at Sky Harbor. The facilities will also have new voice communication systems, airport surface detection equipment, and an enhanced traffic management system.