Provo Airport to get tower

PROVO — On Dec. 17,1903, two brothers took one crude airplane up in the air five times and the miracle of flight was born.

One hundred years to the day later, Provo city will unveil its own miracle of flight.

"In the tradition of Kitty Hawk, we will be breaking ground on an airport control tower," said Provo city spokesman Mike Mower.

A groundbreaking ceremony for the tower will be held 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Provo Municipal Airport, culminating a city program to commemorate the 100th anniversary of flight.

"From the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk to the shuttle program, we're just trying to show how incredible aviation has been over the last 100 years," Mower explained.

Provo Airport administrator Steve Gleason said construction of a control tower is among the biggest things to happen to Provo in a long time.

"We've known for some time that we needed an air traffic control tower since we have a lot of inexperienced pilots and just a lot of traffic that justified having one," Gleason said. "We've been working on it for probably five years."

According to Gleason, getting permission from the Federal Aviation Administration to build a tower was a challenge. Finding money to build the tower also was a major obstacle.

The turning point came, Gleason said, when the Utah Department of Transportation's division of aeronautics made airport safety its first priority.

Recognizing that there are 150,000 takeoffs and landings each year at the Provo Airport, state officials pledged their support and their money to help finance the $2.2 million project.

"It's a safety benefit. It's a cost benefit," Gleason said. "You put in a certain amount of money, and your airport becomes safe."

Emily Champagne, a Wasatch Elementary fifth-grader, knows first-hand the importance of airplane safety. Chosen by the city to ride in a small jet, Champagne had the opportunity to the fly over Provo and share her experiences with other students.

"It's amazing because when you're on the ground you think, 'Big deal, it's a plane ride,' " Champagne said. "But when you get up in the air, it's like, 'Wow.' "

While Champagne admits that she knows little about Provo's need for an airport control tower or what an airport control tower actually does, she said she supports anything that will bring more planes to Provo.