30.01.2004
A landmark worthy of the airport
It was a clear and frosty January morning, and a beautiful sight met Danish Minister of Traffic Flemming Hansen and the other invited guests to a topping-out ceremony for one of the tallest constructions in Denmark.
“Well, if you couldn’t celebrate a building reaching into the sky like this at an airport, where could you hold one?” said the cheerful Traffic Minister in his opening speech at yesterday’s topping-out ceremony for the new control tower. “It’s a new landmark for Copenhagen, and certainly one for the airport,” said Hansen about Naviair’s new building. Clearly proud of the new ATC tower, the Minister said that he wished everyone in Denmark could climb to the top of the tower and enjoy the amazing 360-degree view from 72 metres up in the air.
The engineering consultants also had a few well-chosen comments to make: “The tower is a natural part of the development of Copenhagen Airport, and it has been a very exciting project to be involved in. The main theme of the project has been safety: we have done everything we could to make the tower as safe as absolutely possible. One of our biggest challenges was to make sure that the air traffic controllers working in the tower don’t get seasick. That is a major problem in several of our neighbouring countries. However, we have tested the tower thoroughly, and it will provide air traffic controllers with the best possible view, but it won’t make them seasick,” stated Halldor Ragnarsson from consultants E. Pihl & Søn and Christian Listov-Saabye of Moe & Brødsgaard.
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The 360-degree view makes it a perfect observation post for the traffic controllers. |
Not only air traffic controllers will enjoy the privilege of the beautiful view in future: for the first time, both ground-traffic and air-traffic controllers will be working in the same room. One of the other advantages of the new tower is that it will be possible to operate a new flight control system which was impossible to install in the old tower.
However, not until 2007 will your flight be controlled by ATC staff from the new Copenhagen Airport tower.