Contractor: "Ahead of Schedule And On Budget"

It's a narrow white tower brushing the sky that you can't help but raise your head towards as you enter AirVenture. 

It's Wittman Regional Airport's (OSH) new air traffic control (ATC) tower and when complete, it will replace the blue-paneled brick tower located by the runways built in 1962 to bring order to the aviation traffic in what has come to be known as the world's busiest airport during the week of AirVenture.

And although no construction is being done this week when thousands of people are on the grounds, normally the site is teaming with 30-40 construction workers of all types - ironworkers, masons, plumbers, electricians, and carpenters - working a "full court press," 7:00-3:30 each weekday, according to Miron Project Superintendent Eric Welhouse.

Standing atop is the observation deck in the incomplete structure, you get what can only be described as the best - and coolest -- view in the house.

Waxing philosophically, Welhouse said -- while viewing the afternoon's airshow, with airplanes appearing so close to the tower's summit that you could read their tail numbers -- "We're building history for EAA and Wittman Airport; we're writing another piece of the story."

One thing, he noted, is that they have to be wary of weather. "You're looking at the biggest lightning ground rod around." He stays on top of it though, with a radar weather screen showing brightly on the computer in his construction trailer.

As Johnny Carson's television audience would chime, "So how big is it?" Okay, here are the facts, according to Welhouse and the FAA:

• The base foundation which supports the structure was built using 260 yards of concrete.
• The base building is 8,827-square feet.
• There are 16 flight of steps to the top of the current structure (116 feet from ground to the floor of the cab), with more than 135 steps (counts differ, maybe because the step counter loses track) to climb and descend.
• The control center cab itself (141 feet to top of roof antenna) is not yet built.
• The octagonal control center will sit atop the square tower now in evidence; its three levels will be built with structural steel components assembled on the ground and hoisted in the air as one modular unit, weighing some 25 tons. (That's okay, the crane can hoist 110 tons).
• When complete, the tower will be twice the height of the old tower: 60 feet vs. 140 feet.
• Total cost is projected at $7 million and being funded by a federal earmark from the FAA budget.
• The tower cab is 525-square feet.
• The tower features four controller positions, plus supervisor.
• Personnel in the tower will control traffic in an approximate five-mile radius of the airport.
• FAA air traffic controllers and technical operations personnel were key members of the design team.

The approximately one-acre complex also includes a one-story 5,000-square foot base building (you can see the demarcating concrete blocks) that will include offices, break rooms, and restrooms (Yes, there will also be restrooms in the control tower itself), as well as an area for mechanical equipment, gas, and cabling.

Along the walls of the 16 flights of steps you are surrounded by structural pre-cast concrete pre-cast panels, each 12-feet high and 21-feet wide and weighing 42,000 pounds. (Can you say "hernia?") 

Along the back side of the square tower you can see where the elevator will be housed, along with the mechanicals, wiring, and other FAA and technology wiring and cables that will be enclosed once installed.

With groundbreaking in April 2007, the project is scheduled to be completed in spring 2008 and be fully operational in spring 2009.

FAA spokesman for the Mid-Atlantic Region Tony Molinaro, however, is hoping that the construction will be completed in February 2008. With that timeline, the tower could be operational by July 2008, in time for AirVenture 2008.

So why a new tower? With the current tower more than 40 years old, said Molinaro, it was time to replace it with one that offered better visibility for the controllers from a higher view, as well as the newest technology. It will also be a benefit in bad weather. 

The new tower stands only about 500-feet further back from the current tower and will have terrific line of sight to Wittman's runways.

"They will be able to see every corner of the airport," he said.

As a contract tower, during non-AirVenture days, there will be six tower and two technical operations positions. The tower is open from 6:00 am - 10 pm. The controller contractor is Midwest ATC.

Once the new tower is in use, there are no concrete plans as to the fate of the current tower. "It could sit for a while," Molinaro acknowledged.

For aviation historians, the current tower was commissioned in 1963 at a cost of $150,407. An average of 12 controllers stay on top of 25,000 take offs and landings during the week of AirVenture.

The current tower stands 60-feet (57-feet at controller eye height), is five stories high, and has an observation deck. In 1968 it was moved from its original venue 68-feet closer to the new north/south runway. Its cab area is 24-feet by 24-feet.

Miron Construction is no stranger to unusual projects. With corporate offices in Neenah, WI, the company lays claim to the Nicolet Bank Center and Lambeau Field Redevelopment, both in Green Bay, WI, and the First Wausau Tower in Wausau. Miron provides comprehensive construction services designed to meet the unique and diversified needs of its clients. 

FMI: www.faa.gov, www.mironconst.com, www.wittmanairport.com