I toured the new tower in early June when it was in the latter stages of
construction. No elevator at that time. The plan then was to use both
towers. I attended AirVenture on Tuesday, it didn't look like there was
any activity in the old tower cab. The techs I spoke with in June said
the various communications and data lines to the new tower were temporary
extensions from the lod tower, and new permanent lines would be installed
after the convention. So I'd say the old tower was being used for
something. Equipment in it would have to be kept operating, and there's
always the possibility that some of those temporary connections might
fail.

That explains all the "FAA Techs" wearing BLUE shirts (as opposed to pink)
that were streaming in and out of the old tower. We actually tried to walk
in (Why not? We paid for the damned thing!) and were intercepted by a very
friendly blue-shirted FAA dude, who asked what he could do for us.

I then noticed there were scads of them in and around there. It makes sense
that they were keeping the lines open to the new tower (and to FISK, I
suppose?) and trouble-shooting connections out to the ground controllers at
Rwy 27. They had a ton of hand-held radios in chargers in there...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
Ercoupe N94856
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"