Columbia Tower was a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Air Traffic Control Tower (ATCT) until August of 1997. At that time, it became a Federal Contract Tower (FCT )under the guidance of an ATC contract company out of the Kansas City, Missouri area.
Just a little history and information about contract towers: Around 1993-4, the FAA and federal government agreed to allow private ATC contractors to bid on the rights to operate several small traffic-volume towers around the U.S. This would save taxpayers approximately 500 to 700 thousand dollars per tower annually. The three main bid winners were Serco, Inc. for the western U.S.; RVA, Inc. for the eastern U.S.; and Midwest ATC Service, Inc for the middle section of the U.S.
Midwest ATC Service, Inc. oversees Columbia FCT operations. All Columbia FCT controllers are FAA trained and certified just like any FAA ATCT controller. Columbia controllers complete all FAA annual training and proficiency requirements. FAA evaluation personnel visit the facility approximately every two years for two days and grade controller and manager performance. (Our eval grades have been 98.75% and 100%.) In other words, the rules and requirements for a contract controller and tower are the same as the rules and requirements for a FAA controller and tower.
As far as experience levels at contract towers, let's look at Columbia, MO Tower. In July of 1997, Columbia ATCT was mainly a "training tower" for young inexperienced FAA air traffic controllers. One controller had been here for around 25 years. Great experience there, but... the manager had a total of 6 years FAA time and the average FAA time of the seven remaining controllers was approximately two to three years. Now, each Columbia FCT controller (all 4 of us) averages 25 years ATC experience. This includes some FAA time, military time, and contract tower time.
We are happy to be here. We and our families love being part of the Columbia and Ashland communities. We are not looking for transfers out of the area - we want to keep our experience growing right here at Columbia Tower!
