NAS Key West Dedicates New Air Operations Tower
Navy NewsStand
Story Number: NNS050202-09
Release Date: 2/2/2005 12:28:00 PM
By James Brooks, Naval Air Station Key West Public Affairs
KEY WEST, Fla. (NNS) -- Naval Air Station (NAS) Key West dedicated the opening of their new air traffic control tower Feb. 1.
NAS Key West Commanding Officer Capt. James Scholl and Resident Officer in Charge of Construction Lt. Cmdr. Steve Donley cut a gold ribbon to signal the new tower was open for business.
"The flying business at Boca Chica is very much a part of the nation's warfighting readiness," said Scholl. He added that operating in a state-of-the-art air traffic control tower enables warfighting readiness.
The air tower was part of a larger contract to replace the 50-year old tower and air operations building at NAS Key West's Boca Chica Field. The new tower was built by Sauer Construction Company in just under two years and cost approximately $9.3 million. Key West air traffic controllers began moving into the nearly 100-foot tall tower earlier last month, and it became operational last week.
"This tower and an air operations administration building were completed in 102,800 man-hours with only one mishap - a cut finger," said Sauer Construction's project manager Jim Scheide. "The number of man-hours worked without an accident is four times better than the national average for projects of this size. That's quite an accomplishment."
The old tower and operations building will be demolished once NAS Key West operations department personnel finish moving furniture and equipment into the new Air Operations building.
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