CASPER — The 72-year-old, 50-foot control tower at Casper/Natrona County International Airport is about to be replaced with a new $30 million, 157-foot tower expected to be operational in the next 18 months.
The old control tower’s "look-down angle" — or the line of sight an air traffic controller has to the ground — has become inadequate in the modern era of aviation.
The new tower will put controllers at a hight of 132 feet and with a much wider view of the runways and flight-line operations at Wyoming’s only international airport.
Airport Director Glenn Januska said federal grant money he requested from the COVID era finally came through, allowing him to green-light the project, which will stand nearly 160 feet tall when accounting for its antennas.
The Casper facility is the only airport in the state with a tower staffed by Federal Aviation Administration controllers. The tower is showing its age, and is not tall enough anymore for controllers to properly see aircraft traffic.
“It’s called the look-down angle and they really should be seeing it to today’s standards,” Januska said, adding that, “We need to have a facility that the controllers were seeing the traffic the right way.”
Casper is one of three airports in the state with a staffed control tower and the only one leased by the FAA. In Cheyenne, the military provides air traffic control and in Jackson, the airport tower is manned by non-FAA controllers.
Januska said Casper’s tower is one of the few in the United States that is owned by the airport and staffed by the FAA. Most towers with FAA controllers are owned by the federal government.
As the airport continues to grow its operations, modernization is crucial to retain services and flight capabilities for the future, he said.
In recent years, the airport has not only grown the number of takeoffs and landings, but has increased its scope of aviation services, he added.
Scope Of Services
In addition to commercial airline operations that offer eight United Airlines flights to and from Denver daily, the airport boasts two flight schools, cargo operations with FedEx, a Wyoming State Forestry Department helicopter base, and BLM single-engine air ranker and large air tanker fire base.
There are also charter air and fixed-base operators serving needs in the business and privately-owned aircraft space.
Januska said once installed, the new tower be something that most people — and even pilots — will not notice.
“The day that we switch over from the old tower to the new tower, nobody is going to have any idea,” he said.
Not Manned 24/7
Tower operations at the airport are not 24/7, Januska said.
When controllers leave at night, the airport reverts to the same procedures for pilots that happen at 37 other airports in the state and thousands around the country that do not have any controllers at their facility.
Longtime Casper pilot Dallas Chopping said that when air traffic controllers are available, it is a definite benefit for pilots.
“The biggest advantage is that it keeps traffic organized,” he said. “They control people taking off and landing and keep us separated, so it’s a safety thing.”
Chopping said a lot of airports have gone to a completely automated service where an automated voice reports cloud height, temperature, dew point and other factors.
However, when controllers are in the tower at Casper, they can offer “active reporting” of anything going on around the airport such as a coyote running down the runway or birds flocking in the area.
“It’s hard to beat an observer up there that can actually see things going on that you can’t build into a machine,” he said.
When No Tower Rules
Chopping said when he flies into the airport in Douglas, there is no tower, so pilots are going by either visual flight rules or instrument flight rules.
Under instrument flight rules, a controller in Denver works with the pilot and reserves the airspace for a landing or takeoff.
But because the controller is in Denver and can’t visually see the skies, the air space is reserved a lot longer than if an air traffic controller was at the airport.
Chopping agreed with Januska that a new tower in Casper would not mean anything different for pilots. He compared it to a new “stoplight” at an intersection. But he said it would obviously mean an upgrade for controllers.
Natrona County Commissioner Peter Nicolaysen, who serves as the liaison to the airport’s board of trustees, applauded plans for the new tower.
He said when considering where aviation was in 1954 when the tower was built to today, a new tower is important for the region’s future.
“This tower was really critical for a lot of reasons, and I think it is going to be hugely important to our economic growth and passenger traffic for the next 40 years,” Nicolaysen said.
Another Set Of Eyes
For the two flight schools at the airport, Januska said that having a tower with controllers is a benefit.
He said when he trained for a pilot’s license in Wisconsin, the controllers understood they were dealing with a student and provided an extra set of eyes.
“It was always nice to have the controllers because there was one other person with a set of eyes that was watching for traffic as you were doing your practicing,” he said.
“From a student pilot’s (view) it’s one more safety thing that’s out there that provides a level of safety that you don’t have if you don’t have a tower,” Januska added.
By The Numbers
Funding for the facility includes $9.5 million from the COVID grant, $2 million from Natrona County, $3 million from U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development funds, $4 million from the Wyoming Department of Transportation, $3 million from the airport, and $5 million from the Wyoming governor’s office, Januska said.
Januska said the airport also is working with FAA on new equipment and hope to reduce the cost of the project from its projected $30 million to closer to $27 million.
Once the tower is built by the airport, it will be leased to the FAA, which will install its own communications equipment.
Januska said being the tower landlord is not the ideal situation, but it has always been that way in Casper.
“We will figure out what the cost structure is and they will pay us for being in the facility,” he said. “We’ve been doing this ever since the (current) tower was in operation.”
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
