Washington Manassas Airport Breaks Ground on New Air Traffic Control Tower
Why It MattersReplacing a decades-old recycled tower shows how long airport control facility projects take, and that eye height, cab space and training capacity become fixed constraints once a tower is built.
What happened
Officials at Washington Manassas Airport (KHEF) have broken ground on a new air traffic control tower. Airport officials described the replacement as a significant upgrade to the airport's existing air traffic control facilities, giving controllers improved visibility across the airfield and a modernized workspace.
Airport Director Juan E. Rivera said the project has been more than 26 years in the making and represents continued investment in the future of aviation, safety and the community.
The new tower will have a controller eye height of 125 feet, 58 feet higher than the existing tower's 67 feet. The control cab will cover approximately 550 square feet, nearly three times the existing 189-square-foot cab. The building will total approximately 18,300 square feet across eight stories, including a 9,180-square-foot base building, and will include training rooms, offices, a playback room and a simulator.
The existing tower was commissioned in 1992 and was the FAA's first recycled air traffic control tower. The City of Manassas bought it from Centennial Airport in Colorado for $65,000 and relocated it to Washington Manassas Airport, where it has served for more than 34 years.
Industry impact & what to watch
A tower that began life at another airport, was moved east for $65,000 and has now served for more than 34 years illustrates how general aviation airports often make do with second-hand control infrastructure until a purpose-built replacement can be funded and approved. A project described as more than 26 years in the making shows how slowly that cycle turns.
The design figures point to what controllers gain from a new build. Eye height rises from 67 to 125 feet, and the cab grows from 189 to roughly 550 square feet. Height and cab size are set at construction and cannot easily be changed afterwards, so the choices made now will define the facility's working conditions for decades.
The inclusion of training rooms, a playback room and a simulator inside the building suggests the facility is meant to support controller training and review as well as day-to-day operations. The next dated milestone to follow is commissioning of the new tower, a date the airport has not yet announced.
