(Rendering courtesy of Century West Engineering)
The Bend Municipal Airport is the third busiest airport in Oregon, behind Portland International Airport and Hillsboro Airport. The Bend Airport has also become a major draw for helicopter and fixed-wing flight training with its connection to the Central Oregon Community College aviation program.
Of the top five busiest airports in Oregon, the Bend Airport is the only one that does not have an Air Traffic Control Tower. As airport operations have grown, pilots and the FAA have routinely expressed the need for greater organization and control of aircraft activity. Interest in a Tower has been discussed for over a decade, and Bend Airport Management staff have been proactive in pursuing one.
The process of building a new Tower is long. For Bend, it started in 2008 with a Tower siting study and benefit-cost analysis to identify where a Tower would be located, how tall it would need to be, and if the number of take-off and landing maneuvers met the threshold required to be admitted into the FAA Federal Contract Tower program. This effort was completed by Century West Engineering, founded in Bend, Oregon, and specialty subconsultant, WE Payne and Associates, based in Colorado. In 2008, flight training had started to ramp up, but the numbers were not documented, so the Airport did not qualify for the Federal Contract Tower program. The City shifted its focus to an Airport Master Plan to update operations numbers and identify other needed facility improvements.
In 2013, the Airport Master Plan included a more refined siting analysis for the Tower and moved the conversation forward again. However, national trends limiting the number of new Towers led to the Tower not being depicted on the Airport Layout Plan.
Airport activity continued to increase with significant growth in flight training. Reports of congestion and close calls were investigated and led to local and regional FAA staff supporting a Tower to improve safety. The need for a Tower was commonly discussed among stakeholders and became a primary driver for a new Airport Master Plan.
In 2018, a new Airport Master Plan was in the works. The Century West Engineering and WE Payne and Associates planning team assessed options for a traditional Tower and considered emerging technologies for remote tower options at the Bend Airport. As nationally recognized experts for Air Traffic Control Tower justification studies, siting studies, and design, WE Payne and Associates brought to the table recent experience in the emerging field of virtual Air Traffic Control Tower technology, using specialty camera surveillance to meet air traffic control needs from a remote location.
The City submitted an application to the FAA Federal Contract Tower Program based on the consistent local and regional support for a Tower. Entry into the Program was accepted on October 14, 2020. Per the program’s requirements, the Airport must have the Tower in service within five years, setting the operational deadline for October 14, 2025.
Once admitted to the FAA Contract Tower program, the City selected the Tower consultant, Florida-based CTBX Aviation. With CWE providing local civil design support, CTBX began the Tower siting process in March of 2022.
Five locations were considered. CTBX ensured the project was conducted in accordance with FAA standards, using its Airport Interactive Computer Simulation, a 3D Virtual Reality software developed by CTBX. The simulation tool allows real-time scenario changes to validate Tower sites and heights during an FAA Safety Assessment panel. Similar to that conducted by the FAA, but faster and at much less expense, giving airport owners more control of the early design concepts.
The process culminated with a virtual reality tour of the five proposed Tower locations to vet and determine the optimal site on the Airport. The all-day event included dozens of City, Airport, Consultant, and FAA staff and an Air Traffic Controller from the Redmond Airport who donned the virtual reality goggles to see how each virtual Tower functioned. The process allowed the controller to suggest real-time changes to the configuration of each Tower to ensure that aircraft would be visible to the controller in all movement areas on the airport. A preferred site was identified, and the FAA signed off on the process.
Once the Tower site was identified, a team formed by CTBX, CWE, and California-based, ESA, completed an Environmental Assessment analyzing various environmental impact categories to ensure compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act.
The long-awaited Tower is currently under design by Montana-based consulting firm Morrison-Maierle. The experienced team, including Bend office staff and a nationally-recognized Tower subconsultant, AJT Engineering, will design and oversee construction to meet the October 2025 deadline. Ultimately, the steady work by the City of Bend and its consultants will lead to a safer and more efficient operation of the Bend Municipal Airport.
