One story towers above all the rest at Oshkosh

The control tower at Wittman Regional Airport (KOSH) during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh is Crazy Town to normal mortals, yet it is comprehensible and functional to a select crew of FAA controllers who keep the planes coming in with an assured meter and calm comms.

During the week of AirVenture 2022, 16 four-person teams of air traffic controllers handled the hectic task of accommodating as many as 17,000 aircraft operations during the seven days of the show. Two teams are in the tower cab each shift, where they have a view that swings through all the points of the compass, and surmounts all lower obstructions like buildings or trees.

The FAA has staffed a tower at AirVenture since the 1960s. FAA Air Traffic staff, including controllers, supervisors and managers, apply each year to work AirVenture from the FAA’s 17-state Central Terminal Service Area and from its Eastern Service Area.

It’s a coveted experience, and not everyone who applies gets the call. Possibly twice as many controllers apply as are selected for the prestigious AirVenture tower crew and the opportunity to wear the distinctive pink T-shirts, according to FAA officials.

The teams are carefully composed to include at least one veteran of the AirVenture air traffic control scene, who acts as team lead. The veteran category is comprised of controllers who have served in the cauldron of Oshkosh at least three times. One or more members of the team are categorized as limited controllers, with one or two years of Oshkosh experience, and at least one member is a rookie, new to this scene.

But, as FAA’s Tony Molinaro is quick to point out, that rookie nametag only applies to Oshkosh experience — the rookies are picked from the ranks of experienced tower controllers throughout the central core of the U.S. air traffic system.

Air traffic control is a demanding task that requires focus, precision, and timeliness, notes Kathy Asselborn, general manager of the FAA’s Chicago District, who keeps a practiced eye on the activities in the Oshkosh tower during AirVenture.

She explains that the career of an air traffic controller ages out at 56 years, so there will always be new controllers working their way up as veterans leave, creating a demand for more Oshkosh rookies.

The tower teams plan in advance for the arrival times of heavies at KOSH. Traffic separation, and wake avoidance, demand attention.

The large colorful dots on the runways at Wittman help with arrival spacing, as controllers direct pilots to “land on the green dot” or “land on the yellow dot.”

In the tower cab, a seeming cacophony of voices is actually metered and meaningful to the members of the tower teams. A spotter talks to a controller, who essentially repeats the spotter’s words on air to each inbound pilot as needed. With multiple teams of spotters and controllers acting simultaneously, the verbal communications can seem like an impenetrable forest of words to the uninitiated guest, which makes the ultimate air traffic ballet even more amazing to watch in action.

Out at Fisk, a few miles from the airport, more controllers with binoculars direct and separate inbound VFR traffic. They identify specific aircraft with a time-honored Oshkosh request: “Rock your wings, high wing…” “Rock your wings, Twin Beech.” This ensures the controller and pilot are in communication for subsequent direction to one of the two Oshkosh patterns that may be operating simultaneously for Runways 18/36 and 9/27.

There’s another side to the air traffic operation at AirVenture. Team Blue, nicknamed for their blue shirts, is comprised of FAA technical operations specialists who make sure the radios and gear are working and good to go.

This year, Team Blue brought a 3-D printer they used to manufacture things like handheld radio belt holsters for use by controllers on the field at outlying stations.

The FAA AirVenture control tower team takes charge at noon the Thursday before AirVenture begins, and relinquishes it to the contract controllers on Sunday night as the show ends. That’s when the controllers head back to their home towers and KOSH is no longer one of the busiest airports in the nation.