THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 13, 1994 TAG: 9410130500
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROANOKE ISLAND LENGTH: Short : 41 lines
Pilots flying into Dare County's airport will report to air traffic controllers from Norfolk International Airport beginning in March, airport administrator Tim Gaylord said Wednesday.
Currently, the 45,000 planes that use Dare County's airport annually are tracked on radar by air traffic controllers from four separate locations. Radar at Washington Center in Leesburg, Va., follows the flights for most of the trips.
But at a Tuesday night meeting of about 16 representatives of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association and the Dare County Airport Authority, officials announced that planes soon will be tracked by two sources.
``What we want to do is provide better radar coverage for pilots on the Outer Banks,'' Gaylord said. ``Norfolk will take care of all air traffic flying in this area. It will mean everything will be locally controlled instead of long-distance. Pilots only will have to change radio frequencies twice instead of four times.
``It will be a paperwork change, basically,'' said the airport administrator. ``But it will make things a whole lot safer.''
County spokesman Charlie Hartig agreed.
``The change will facilitate movement of air traffic in and out of the Albemarle area from Dare County, Maple and Elizabeth City airports,'' Hartig said. ``Washington Central couldn't see the aircraft on their radar. But once the Federal Aviation Administration installs a new radar system in Norfolk, the air traffic controllers there actually will be able to watch the air space over the entire Albemarle region.
``It will save time. It will save gas money for the pilots,'' Hartig said. ``And it will enable air traffic controllers to more easily separate military from commercial airplanes.'' by CNB