A New Air Traffic Control System for Safer Skies

Introduction

The Winter Haven Regional Airport is preparing to build a new kind of air traffic control tower. It is called a remote digital tower and it will be one of the first in the United States.

Unlike other airports, the air traffic controllers will not be sitting inside of a tall building at Winter Haven. Instead, cameras and other sensors will be installed on-site at the airport. This special equipment will help by detecting and tracking aircraft flying in the area. All of this information will be collected and sent to a team of air traffic controllers at the Bartow Executive Airport.

The controllers at Bartow will use this information to monitor planes that are taking off, landing, or moving on the ground. They will also be able to safely guide aircraft that are already flying around the Airport's airspace.

Before the Remote Digital Tower is completed, a Training Tower will be put up. The Training Tower will be a small and temporary structure. Its purpose will be to train future tower controllers.

The Facts

The amount of aircraft flying into the Winter Haven Airport has grown rapidly. This growth is why it is important to modernize the way that air traffic is managed over the Airport.

Below is a fact sheet that shows how many operations the Airport has had in recent years. "Aircraft Operations" refers to the number of aircraft landing and taking off.

Aircraft Operations:

• 2023: 42,000+
• 2024: 75,000+
• 2025: 91,000+
• 2026: 100,000+ (Projected)

The Project

The Winter Haven Airport has acquired its own radio frequency that will be used for the Remote Digital Tower. In aviation, radio frequencies work as a channel for pilots to talk to one another. Winter Haven's current frequency is shared by five other airports in the area. Because there are so many pilots using the same frequency, it can become crowded and hard to understand each other.

With the new frequency, pilots flying into Winter Haven will have an easier time communicating with other pilots and the Remote Digital Tower controllers. This will make receiving and sending out important messages easier. In the long run, this will greatly improve safety.

Airports are surrounded by what's called airspace. Airspace comes in several levels and is used to classify an airport. The airspace that pilots are flying in comes with different rules to ensure their safety. The Winter Haven Airport, for example, is under Class G airspace. This means that aircraft in the area do not have a control tower to talk to. Pilots flying in Class G airspace speak on the designated frequency to announce their positions.

Once the Remote Digital Tower is built and operating, the Airport will transition from Class G airspace to Class D airspace. Note that the Airport will only be Class D when the tower is operating for the day. When the tower closes, the airspace will go back to Class G until the tower reopens the following day.

As a Class D Airport, pilots will have to speak with the air traffic controllers before they can enter the airspace. The controllers will give instructions on which direction to fly and at what height. Pilots who want to land will receive runway instructions by the controllers. Pilots who want to take off will also receive instructions. This ensures that all aircraft are within a safe distance of one another.

These new developments will help our Airport become safer and more advanced as it continues to grow. Pilots will have better communication and guidance when flying.

Funding

This project is fully funded through Federal and State grants of more than $10 million.

Proposed Site Locations

Partnerships

The City of Winter Haven has partnered with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), private contractors, and the Bartow Executive Airport. These partnerships have helped move the project and the future of aviation in Central Florida forward.

The Bartow Executive Airport has an on-site air traffic controllers training program. Students are taught how to use the Remote Digital Tower's camera systems. Some of these students will be managing Winter Haven's airspace soon.

This video provides a preview of Bartow's control tower room.

Photo Gallery

Staff Contact

Troy Heidel
theidel@mywinterhaven.com
863-298-4551