Some jobs require a little more planning than others. Sun-Kool Window Tinting NC can attest to this. The crew climbed 50 feet and dodged air traffic control personnel for a unique recent installation.

Eric Perez owns the Hickory, North Carolina-based company. He received a call from a local private airport in early August asking if the shop would tint its air traffic control tower. Sun-Kool had already worked on office windows and a small aviation museum within the airport, Perez says, so they were familiar with the establishment.

Seeing the Sights

“I arrived to inspect the tower before offering a quote, and saw right away that they weren’t necessarily looking to prevent glare,” he says. “They already had shades installed to help with that. The goal was to reduce heat instead.”

Sun-Kool Window Tinting NC tinted a local air traffic control tower on Aug. 10.

Perez learned that the shades did, indeed, help reduce glare, but a gap between the curtains and windows allowed enough light to heat up the room.

“Plus, the UV from the sun was deteriorating the wires on sensitive control equipment,” he says. “The airport was planning to renovate the equipment and wanted to tint the windows beforehand.”

Airport officials told Perez that the tint must have no less than 65% visible light transmittance (VLT) and be above 15% reflectivity to comply with control tower regulations. Based on that information, Perez recommended Edge Pristine 80 ceramic tint.

When scoping out the tower, Perez noticed one potential hurdle that needed to be addressed.

The tower was just short enough that it wasn’t legally required to have an elevator, says Eric Perez.

“[Airport officials] told me that an air traffic control tower that is 52 feet or more tall must have an elevator,” he says. “This tower is 51.5 feet tall, so we had to carry all of our supplies up those stairs.”

Getting it Going

Along with general manager Daniel Kahill, and installers Austin Patel and Kurtis Pittman, Perez arrived at the jobsite at 7:30 a.m. on Aug. 10, hauled their tools up the stairs, and got to work.

Eight hours later, they were done.

“We spent a lot of our time figuring out how to get to the windows safely without disrupting the air traffic controllers,” he says.

Many of the windows were sloped so that the top tilted away from the building, something Perez says the four of them found slightly challenging.

Perez says he and his installers found the windows’ angle disorienting at first.

“We couldn’t let the angle get to us,” he says, explaining that it was disorienting to look down at the ground directly through the glass instead of out of a straight vertical window.

Staying Safe

The Sun-Kool crew used lightweight ladders so they didn’t have to worry about carrying heavy equipment up the stairs. Perez says the tilted windows created a separate challenge with the ladders, though.

“We followed OSHA regulations and made sure we always had three points of contact, but the angle of the glass made that tough,” he says.

The team also had to coordinate with the air traffic controllers so they could continue relaying information to pilots. Perez says he and his installers were constantly communicating with the airport employees as they worked to stay out of the way while still getting the job done.

The Sun-Kool crew found it challenging to stay out of the air traffic controllers’ way.

The airport is private and doesn’t currently offer commercial flights, Perez says, so the tower wasn’t too congested while they worked. Working there was still a memorable experience.

“They used a lot of technical lingo while talking with the pilots, and I couldn’t understand a dang thing,” says Perez

He and the other tinters also experienced a special first while in the tower.

“There was a young student taking flying lessons that day, and we got to see her very first flight and landing,” he says.