For some reason, the height of air traffic control towers has become almost a matter of competition between airports and even countries. With some very nice new airports popping up in exotic places, new and ever taller towers seem to be a requirement not to be ignored.
Of course the height of the tower is (or should be…) determined primarily by the need for controllers to see all the runways and associated taxiways properly. Build the thing too high and in some places with lots of fog and low clouds controllers will have to manage in IMC even if the rest of the field does not appear to be socked in… Of course, modern electronic wizardry enables controllers to see even when conditions are otherwise poor. This in turn begs the question: why do we need ever taller towers? But that is beside the point. National pride and who knows what else all play a role and let’s be frank: those new towers are nothing if not beautiful.
In our series on the aerodrome control towers of the world, we will now introduce to you the tower that is the tallest in the world. Ah, Kuala Lumpur with 130 meters (425 feet) I can hear you say… Wrong.
The tallest tower in the world is in fact overseeing Vancouver Harbor airport, in Vancouver, Canada. Built in 1973 and situated atop the Granville Square skyscraper, the tower structure begins where the skyscraper ends at 142 meters (466 feet). You may call this cheating, after all most airports do not have a skyscraper to build on but a fact is a fact…
Vancouver Harbour is both a land and a water aerodrome and in terms of the last, it is the busiest in Canada. So busy in fact that they discourage local float training and circuits resulting in a very low number of local flights.
Several floatplane operators offer scheduled services to Victoria Harbour and Nanaimo Harbour on Vancouver Island. Charters to other places are also available.
Vancouver Harbour sports also a floating (of course…) heliport, one of the busiest public heliports in Canada.
We were not able to uncover any interesting stories about the cohabitation of a skyscraper and a tower but perhaps our readers will write about their experience with the tallest tower in the world.
