“London City Airport’s getting a new control tower, but it’s just going to be a large mast with 14 high-definition cameras on it,” says YouTuber Tom Scott. “The actual tower will be 80 miles away, in the headquarters of NATS near Swanwick. It feels questionable, but is it?”
Watch Tom’s video on YouTube or below.
“Most of the traffic control” is incorrect; tower controllers also control ground traffic – aircraft and vehicles in close proximity to each other.
Remember, TRACON and ARTCC are nowhere near an airport and they do most of the traffic control.
TRACON and ARTCC are radar; their separation standards are limited to three miles at the closest, more often five miles separation. Control towers are the immediate vicinity, the visual area of an airport; much closer separation standards in effect.
I worked for the FAA for 30 years. Many TRACON’S are located in the tower building. Contollers there are trained in both tower and approach positions. True a lot of large TRACON’S such as Atlanta are miles from the airport, and control more than one airport. As the FAA updates tha NAS, more will be consolidated.