Alltrikes

It began when a small airport in mountainous West Virginia, the only nontowered airport in the state with commercial service, failed to convince the FAA to fund a control tower but refused to take “no” for an answer.

“No matter how hard we tried, we just couldn’t develop the numbers to justify building a tower,” said David Byers, a college professor and airport consultant who has supported many efforts by local officials seeking towers. “Normally that’s the end of the story.”

In Beckley, W.Va., it sparked a Byers brainstorm, and county officials agreed to pay the first $75,000 toward an effort with potential to benefit aviators nationwide: developing a radar-based system that can automate traffic advisories, replacing at least one critical function of towers, particularly the smaller contract towers recently placed in cost-cutting crosshairs.

The early (radar) returns proved positive: A portable system provided by a Florida company succeeded in tracking an unusually busy airspace when ...

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