The 2024 law that ordered the FAA to publish milestones and requirements for remote tower design approval.
Section 621 of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 (H.R. 3935) amends 49 U.S.C. 47124 and directs the FAA Administrator, within 180 days of enactment, to create a program and publish milestones to achieve system design and operational approval for a remote tower system. The section requires the FAA to establish requirements covering visual siting for electro-optical sensors, datalink latency, visual presentation design for monitors, and wireless telecommunications infrastructure; to use a safety risk management panel process; to assess safety benefits where a remote tower would serve a non-towered airport; to allow surface surveillance technology as a situational awareness tool; to set contingency protocols for technology failures; and to support active testing of an approved system by the William J. Hughes Technical Center. It also ordered the system design approval and evaluation process expanded by December 31, 2024. As of mid-2026 no remote tower SDA has been issued. In the FAA non-federal lane, related vendor evaluations run under the APRT label, expanded in FAA SRM materials as Airborne Position Reference Tool.