Michael Mewhinney
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
(Phone: 650/604-3937, 650/604-9000)
mmewhinney@mail.arc.nasa.gov

On Friday, Dec. 10, news media are invited to tour, film and photograph NASA’s new “FutureFlight Central,” the world’s first
full-scale virtual airport control tower. Reporters will also have the opportunity to conduct interviews of key facility personnel
from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (PST). A formal ribbon-cutting ceremony for the facility will be held on Monday, Dec. 13, at 9:00 a.m.
(PST) with guest registration starting at 8:30 a.m. (PST).

Located at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, FutureFlight Central is designed to test — under realistic airport
conditions and configurations — ways to combat potential air and runway traffic problems at commercial airports.

In addition to being able to film and photograph the facility’s interior, including a 360-degree simulation of San Francisco
International Airport in the tower cab, news media may interview FutureFlight Central Facility Manager Nancy Dorighi and
other facility personnel. News media should stop by the Visitor Badging Office, located at the main gate, Moffett Federal
Airfield, to obtain visitor passes needed to gain entry.

Constructed at a cost of $10 million, the two-story facility was jointly funded by NASA’s Advanced Air Transportation
Technologies Office and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The facility is dedicated to the memory of Stanton R.
Harke, the facility’s first project manager, who passed away on April 25, 1999 at the age of 58 following an 18-month battle
with cancer.

Daniel, Mann, Johnson & Mendenhall, Moffett Field, CA, served as project engineers. Other project partners include Oracle
Corp., Redwood Shores, CA, and SGI, Mountain View, CA. Representatives from the FAA’s air traffic control supervisors
committee and the National Air Traffic Controller’s Association, as well as the Air Transport Association, participated in all
phases of the facility’s design.

Images of the facility are available via the Internet at the following URL:
http://ffc.arc.nasa.gov/ffc/photo_library/photo_lib.html

The general URL for FutureFlight Central is:
http://ffc.arc.nasa.gov