London City Airport: controlling an airport from 80 miles away

More educative entertainment from Tom Scott:

London City Airport’s getting a new control tower: but it’s just going to be a large mast with 14 high-definition cameras on it. The actual tower will be 80 miles away, in the headquarters of NATS near Swanwick.

The BBC’s report on the remote control tower for London City adds:

It has already been tested in Australia, Sweden, Norway and Ireland.

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The technology has been developed by Saab, the Swedish defence and security company, and will be introduced as part of a £350m development programme to upgrade London City Airport.

It will also include an extended terminal building, enabling it to serve two million more passengers a year by 2025…

The system made its world debut in Sweden at Ornskoldsvik Airport, where flights have been controlled by a remote tower in Sundsvall, 110 miles (177km) away, since 2015.