January 08, 2015 // Facility Spotlight: Kissimmee FCT

There are three NATCA members at Kissimmee Federal Contract Tower (ISM) in Florida.

The facility opened on April 1, 1997, and is responsible for Class D airspace.

Controllers at this federal contract tower work with those at Orlando TRACON (F11). The facility is located 10 miles southwest of Orlando ATCT (MCO), and most of its air traffic is light civil and corporate jets.

“Working at ISM is like most small airports: a mix of low time students and jets that just want to come and go,” said ISM NATCA Facility Rep. Kevin Oswald.

While the Kissimmee Airport does not host any aviation events, the tower guides a lot of the spillover traffic from Sun ‘N Fun, and from the NBAA convention.

Oswald said holidays can also be a busy time with everyone flying in to go to the amusement parks, located 10 miles west of ISM.

“Our workforce is small, and we all do a lot to help each other out,” Oswald explained of his small contingency at ISM. “That makes being a FacRep easy.”