SFO’s new 221-foot air traffic control tower will open next summer (Photo: Chris McGinnis)
This week San Francisco International Airport turns over its fabulous new control tower to the Federal Aviation Administration.
But before doing so, the airport gave TravelSkills an exclusive early tour.
The FAA will spend a year outfitting the voluptuous, flared cylinder with its systems, testing them and then training controllers. The new tower is expected to be operational by next summer.
Ready to take a tour? Let’s start at the bottom and move to the top.
Inside the new corridor connecting SFO’s T1 and T2. View from T2 entry. (Photo: Chris McGinnis)
In late June, a bright new land side corridor (along the roadway) connecting Terminal 1 with Terminal 2 will open to the public. What’s amazing about the corridor is that it has a glass roof so you can stop and peer up at the new tower. I think they’ll need to install handrails to keep folks from falling over as they crane their necks to view the beautiful new metallic cone. It’s gorgeous, almost hypnotic, and vertigo-inducing to look up at it as the clouds roll by.
The view looking up from the new glass-roofed corridor between T1 and T2- note the waterfall of lights panels facing west (Chris McGinnis)
Also in June, a new computer controlled display will light up the tower in a variety of colors, which will be seen from miles away after dusk. Like the Empire State Building or San Francisco City Hall, the new “waterfall of lights” will signify special occasions– orange when the Giants win, or red and green for Christmas, etc.
Inch-thick, blast-proof glass across the front of the building under the tower (Chris McGinnis)
The FAA will have offices in a three-story building at the base of the tower, where the exterior and glass walls have been thickened and hardened to prevent damage from truck bombs on the nearby roadway.
The structure is built on “bay mud” according to project manager Tony Kingsman who said that the tower is supported in bedrock 140 below ground, and is designed to withstand an 8.0 earthquake and still be operational.
This is SFO’s fourth control tower. The current one was built in 1981 atop the current Terminal 2, deemed seismically unstable, so construction began on the new tower three years ago.
It cost about $120 million to build the tower, FAA office building and corridor. The FAA kicked in about 70 million of that– enough for a basic, utilitarian structure, but SFO wanted it to be an iconic, torch-like symbol of the gateway to the Pacific, so it contributed an additional $50 million for aesthetics, as well as additional airport space like the new corridor.
HNTB provided the conceptual design of the new structure and it was designed and built by Hensel Phelps and Fentress Architects.
The new tower should open in July 2016 at which time the old tower will be dismantled quickly so as not to obstruct runway views from the new one. There is talk of the airport adding a outdoor viewing platform, open the the public, in the old tower’s footprint atop T2, but for now, that’s just talk.
Okay then. Let’s crawl up inside this spectacular structure! Watch this video and scroll through the images and video below.
Aside from the stunning view, note that US Airways/American is now operating out of Delta’s Boarding Area C (Chris McGinnis)
First taking an elevator up about 10 floors and then walking up a spiral staircase, you enter a wonderland of planespotting— a full 270 degrees of unobstructed airport views through 24 giant panes of 1-1/2 inch-thick glass. On the western side of the 650-square-foot “cab” there are a few pillars that hold up the roof. I’ve never seen a view like this one.
Looking out from 221 feet over Terminal 2, home of Virgin America and American (Chris McGinnis)
The tower complex is covered in at least 100 lightning rods grounded by shiny woven metal cables. Look closely and you’ll see them (Chris McGinnis)
Looking out at the United hangar and (oddly) looking down on the current control tower (Chris McGinnis)
Installation of air traffic controller stations- there is room for 13 controllers up here, but usually only 6-8 on the job. (Chris McGinnis)
Looking out at one of two cranes used to clean and maintain the tower exterior (Chris McGinnis)
Looking over the parking lot and international terminal (Chris McGinnis)
Air traffic controllers’ break room is one level below the cab- talk about a room with a view! (Chris McGinnis)
Here’s the view from the air traffic controllers break room. Nice! (Chris McGinnis)
Your excited TravelSkills editor Chris McGinnis pondering a lightning rod on the top of SFO control tower (Doug Yakel)
Here’s a video watching an Air China 747-8 take off from outside the cab.
NOTE: Be sure to click here to see all recent TravelSkills posts about: Delta’s experiments + Southwest adds Oakland-Atlanta nonstop + More power in your pocket at Marriott + Airline CEO dismissed + Delta’s first class summer sale
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oh jeeez! Fixed. Thank you. –chris
Since they were mentioned a couple times, do those lightening rods really reduce the weight of the building? Or are they lightning rods?
This is a beautiful building….I wonder if it’s the first ATC Tower with this particular design. Thank you to TravelSkills.com for this article, pictures, and video
Well, I hope they finish soon. I went to the hourly parking at SFO this morning and was astounded to find the entire parking structure full. Looks like one whole level was closed for construction workers and construction storage. I had to drive around for 20 minutes on all the other levels to finally find a single parking space.
Chris you said ” Looking out at the United hangar ” when I worked there as a fueler it was know as ” Big Bay ” shared with American
Got it, thanks Chris!
Wow, the new tower looks very nice. Will they have a public open house before it’s being put into operation? Would love to go up there 🙂
Hey Kirk: The corridor is LANDside… along the roadway. Sorry for the typo… thanks for the correction!
C
The T2-T1 airside connector has been open for some time (and I remember you reporting on how Delta flyers can now access the snazzy T2 facilities). So what’s this new thing opening on June 17?