Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam has had four control towers in its history, with number three and four doing service simultaneously these days. Number four is a strange looking creature, sitting out in the fields and watching over the airport’s fifth runway.
However, this article is about tower number three, the tall, torch-like edifice on the grounds of the central area of the airport. With her height of 101 meters (330 ft) she was the tallest tower in the world when built in 1991. Schiphol is the world’s lowest major airport; its entire area is below sea level, with the lowest point 3.4 meter (11 ft) below.
The tower had a somewhat troubled start.
While the “handle” of the torch was being erected using a special sliding scaffolding technique, the wood caught fire one day and the fire spread upwards, the rest of the building acting like a chimney, fanning the fire even more. Luckily the concrete structure was not damaged irreparably and construction could continue.
The handle of the torch has seven windows and you may have noticed that the lowermost window is different. It has a protrusion below it, not unlike the trampoline in swimming pools. An airport below sea level and also so near to the sea has something to worry about when it thinks of global warming and the rising sea level, however that protrusion is not a clever provisioning for the future.
When the tower was built, the Dutch Air Traffic Control organization (LVNL) was housed in the building opposite to the tower and the two were connected by a nice glass-enclosed aerial walkway. When LVNL moved into new premises on the East-side of the airport, the old building was pulled down and the bridge was removed, leaving only the trampoline for visitors to puzzle about.
The new tower got a new ATC system also and when it was commissioned, LVNL staff got a cute pepper-grinder in the shape of the tower. A nice touch and a real collector’s item.
Even though the fifth runway got its own tower, the torch continues to rule the airport. Still as beautiful as on the day she was born, she has turned 18 this year.
