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Why does the Las Vegas Airport have three control towers? I just noticed, and I find it a little weird. There should only be one... Does anybody know details on how this came about? And how they work like that?

enter image description here

EDIT: Not a duplicate, the question is specific to Las Vegas Airport, the other question is about another airport.

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    $\begingroup$ From the Airport Diagram, I only see a single control tower, located just west of Terminal 3. Where do you think the others are? Please provide references. $\endgroup$
    – abelenky
    Dec 5, 2017 at 20:38
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    $\begingroup$ Possible duplicate of How does having multiple ATC towers affect airport operations? $\endgroup$
    – Greg Hewgill
    Dec 5, 2017 at 21:01
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    $\begingroup$ I've added an image from Google Earth that shows the three towers that I believe you're referring to. $\endgroup$
    – Greg Hewgill
    Dec 5, 2017 at 21:01
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    $\begingroup$ @GregHewgill This question is about the Las Vegas Airport. The other question is about Schiphol airport. Please also note, that Las Vegas has three towers, which is very unusual, Schiphol has two. Please read the question more carefully before flagging a question. This causes at least another edit for me for an absolutely valid question, that I already had research before posting, and that already required three edits in one hour... $\endgroup$
    – mike
    Dec 5, 2017 at 21:22
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    $\begingroup$ @mike Last time I counted (it was today) Schiphol had five towers. $\endgroup$
    – DeltaLima ♦
    Dec 5, 2017 at 21:24

4 Answers 4

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One of those is the old tower, built in 1983, and scheduled for demolition.
(in the bottom left of the picture)

The location and height of the old tower created blind spots, which were covered by the much shorter ground control tower attached to the D Gates. (upper right of the picture)

The new tower is in a better location, and tall enough that it doesn't have blind spots. I couldn't find a reference to if the D-Gate mini-tower will continue, or be demolished.

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airports which have existed for many years often have a succession of control towers which were built in each revision of the airport, and in some cases the older ones are allowed to stand. I look for them each time I land at an unfamiliar airport- the more towers, the older the airport, and the more history there is in front of me.

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Previous commenters are correct that old towers can stay around well after a new one is put up. Look at IAD. I'd also add that sometimes there are ramp towers at airports and they can look like regular air traffic control towers.

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The mini tower is the East Ramp Control tower, used to park planes at assigned gates. There is another Ramp Control Tower situated on the south end of the terminal 1 garage that monitors the west airfield.

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    $\begingroup$ Can you expand on that and provide some pictures please? $\endgroup$
    – dalearn
    May 3, 2018 at 12:46

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