control tower

English

Noun

control tower (plural control towers)

1. (aviation) An airport building from which the air traffic control unit monitors and directs the movement of aircraft on and around the airport.
   • 1947 June 9, “National Affairs: Holocaust at LaGuardia”, in Time:

     As he taxied out to the far side of the field, 38-year-old Captain Benton R. ("Lucky") Baldwin was cleared for takeoff. The control tower gave him his choice of two runways—No. 13 or No. 18.

2. An enclosed, raised structure occupied by one or more persons who operate or exercise control over railway traffic, ship movement, a racetrack, machinery, etc.
   • 1918, Victor Appleton, chapter 12, in Tom Swift And His War Tank:

     Ned Newton stood beside Tom in the control tower of the great tank as she started on her homeward way.

   • 1941 November 17, “Catastrophe: Crash at Dunkirk”, in Time:

     In a railway control tower at Dunkirk, Ohio, Operator Cliff Schwartzkopf waited for the Pennsylvania's Pennsylvanian, eastbound from Chicago to New York.

   • 2006 January 29, Thomas Fuller, “China trade unbalances shipping”, in New York Times, retrieved 18 January 2012:

     From the control tower high above the sprawling container port here, Danny Law helps manage the relentless loading and unloading of cargo, day and night.

Related terms

• nontowered

Translations

airport control tower

• Arabic: بُرْج مُرَاقَبَة m (burj murāqaba)
• Armenian: վերահսկողության աշտարակ (verahskoġutʻyan aštarak)
• Bulgarian: контролна кула f (kontrolna kula)
• Catalan: torre de control f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 塔臺 / 塔台 (zh) (tǎtái), 指揮塔 / 指挥塔 (zhǐhuītǎ), 調度台 (diàodùtái), 控制塔 (kòngzhìtǎ)

• Czech: řídicí věž f
• Danish: kontroltårn n
• Dutch: verkeerstoren (nl) m, controletoren (nl) m
• Estonian: lennujuhtimistorn
• Finnish: lennonjohtotorni (fi)
• French: tour de contrôle (fr) f
• Galician: torre de control (gl) f
• Georgian: აეროდრომული სადისპეჩერო პუნქტი (aerodromuli sadisṗečero ṗunkṭi)
• German: Kontrollturm (de) m, Tower (de) m
• Greek: πύργος ελέγχου (el) m (pýrgos elénchou)
• Hebrew: מגדל פיקוח m (migdal fiquh)
• Hindi: नियंत्रण टॉवर (niyantraṇ ṭŏvar)
• Hungarian: irányítótorony (hu)
• Icelandic: flugturn m
• Indonesian: menara pengawas
• Irish: túr rialaithe m, túr rialúcháin m
• Italian: torre di controllo f
• Japanese: 管制塔 (ja) (かんせいとう, kanseitō)
• Korean: 관제탑(管制塔) (ko) (gwanjetap)
• Latvian: vadības tornis m
• Lithuanian: kontrolės bokštas m
• Malay: menara kawalan
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kontrolltårn n

  Nynorsk: kontrolltårn n

• Persian: برج مراقبت
• Polish: wieża kontroli lotów f
• Portuguese: torre de controle f, torre de controlo f
• Romanian: turn de control n
• Russian: кома́ндно-диспе́тчерский пу́нкт m (komándno-dispétčerskij púnkt)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: контролни торањ m

  Roman: kontrolni toranj m

• Slovak: riadiaca veža f
• Slovene: nadzorni stolp m
• Spanish: torre de control f
• Swedish: kontrolltorn (sv) n
• Thai: หอควบคุมการบิน (hɔ̌ɔ-kûuap-kum-gaan-bin), หอควบคุม (hɔ̌ɔ-kûuap-kum)
• Turkish: kontrol kulesi
• Ukrainian: кома́ндно-диспе́тчерський пу́нкт m (komándno-dyspétčersʹkyj púnkt)