EDI tower - when?

[Joe Curry]

Any news on the long-awaited ATC tower at EDI.?
Rumours point to a new site close to the plastic Spitfire.
Is this going to happen, is so, when.? Any details on
completion date etc; Has the envisaged height
changed? :confused:

[xerxius]

Still awaiting final go-ahead & confirmation of location. Best guess is the Spitfire site @51m end of 2004. But then again...

[Joe Curry]

2004! The EDI tower fiasco does not seem to have
embarrassed BAA. But they don't really seem to have any
enthusiasm for anything EDI related.

32 years planning a much needed replacement tower is
not a lot of time for BAA's EDI 'ops' evidently.?

The parallel taxi-way construction also seems a long way off.
Perhaps BAA are awaiting the introduction of VTOL
airliners.?:mad:

[stopp the climb]

What has to be rembered is that London hold the purse strings and a lot of time is wasted while they try to find a map of the North of England to see where Edinburgh is.

[Joe Curry]

>>What has to be rembered is that London hold the purse strings and a lot of time is wasted while they try to find a map of the North of England to see where Edinburgh is.<<

Having first thought it was a suburb of their Scottish HQ in
Glasgow.? :rolleyes:

Seriously though, the skill of EDI ATC personel have covered-up the lack of proper facilities at EDI for decades. Time for BAA to
return favours and make life more tolerable for EDI's overworked
ATC contingent. Yes BAA, you owe them one! :o

[cossack]

A new VCR at EDI is long overdue.
I worked there for 8 years up until 1997 and the location of the Tower was always a problem. For a long time there was a staff member (ATSA not ATCO) sitting in the little caravan by Ingliston watching what went on for the Tower controllers. That was eventually replaced in about 1995 (?) with a Surface Movement Radar (SMR).
That in itself was a necessity but it was done to cut down on staff numbers not to improve visibility of the runway.
I had a 737 abort take off and disappear from view behind the terminal. I could see it on the SMR but not from the tower. Only from the lack of smoke could I tell that there was no fire, but I could see nothing else. The crew were very busy and communications were limited because of this. Not an ideal situation.
EDI needs a new VCR now, not in 2004. It is a safety matter.

[xerxius]

If the green light was given for the new tower today then it would take two years before it was fully up and running, hence the end of 2004! It will take about 6 months to design it, 6 months to build it and 7 or 8 months to equip it. This is all after the risk assessment and (hopefully) approval from SRG.

As for full length taxiways, wait for the tower first...

The BAA are finally behind this one, it's the men from the goverment that need to be convinced.