Good explanation Eric. Last time I was in there was in the jump seat on an inbound 737 and I thought we would NEVER "make it across" to our gate"! We did - a VERY fast taxi I might add..... Liam. YVR. Fan of DFW Ground. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Eric Grundmann" <ericgr@xxxxxxxxxxx> To: <AIRLINE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2003 9:26 PM Subject: Re: DFW TOWERS- how many? 3 TOWERS. > Bob, > Well, you got some interesting responses to your question, here > is another one. > The actual operation at DFW is actually quite simple. The East Tower is > located on the east side of the airport and controls traffic on runways > 17R/35L, 17C/35C, 17L/35R, and 13L/31R. The West Tower is located on the > west side of the airport and controls traffic on runways 18R/36L, 18L,36R, > and 13R/31L. The Center Tower is used only for the Flight Data > position. Both the outboard towers have Local Control and Ground Control > for their side of the airport. The center tower just issues the ATIS and > any weather or Traffic Management reroutes. > There really is no coordination between the outboards because of > the way the automation is set up and how they determine departure and > arrival runways for individual aircraft. Say an a/c parked on the west > side needs to go to Cleveland. They call the west side Ground controller > who clears them to taxi up to the bridge that goes over to the east > side.. They then cross the bridge and call the east side Ground controller > who fits them in the departure sequence on that side of the airport. Same > happens for a/c parked on the east side going west. > As far as arrivals go, the TRACON attempts to land the aircraft on > the side of the airport that they park on.. If it doesn't work out that > way, then the process is reversed. As they clear the runway, the a/c gets > clearance to taxi to the bridge and them they call the other sides ground > control and get instructions to their gate area. > One other thing to think about, there are actually two additional > towers at DFW. Delta and American both have ramp control towers. They > 'control' the ramp areas for their respective terminals. Once you clear > the taxiway system, you call the ramp tower and get instructions to the > gate. > The hardest positions at DFW are the ground control > positions. These can get really crazy during busy times, especially > because you don't know who the aircraft are, you just yell for the "MD-80 > at spot 42", etc. They answer you and then you figure out where they are > going and how to get them there.. Local control is pretty easy, > relatively speaking. "Cleared to land, cleared to takeoff, turn left at > the next high speed and contact ground control", that sort of thing. > DFW opened in 1967. > > Hope that helps you, > Eric Grundmann > Ft. Worth ARTCC