# How does air traffic control work in Vancouver harbor?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-air-traffic-control-work-in-vancouver-harbor/1030263>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [May 20, 2026, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-air-traffic-control-work-in-vancouver-harbor/1030263 "2026-05-20T22:15:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2026, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-air-traffic-control-work-in-vancouver-harbor/1030263/1 "2026-05-20T22:15:40Z")

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I once spent a half hour watching sea planes landing and taking off there. It looked totally chaotic. There was what looked like a control tower, but for all I know it was the harbor master’s tower. Basically, the harbor master controls who can come in to the inner harbor. There are usually a number of ships waiting outside to come in and load/unload. In the meantime planes are landing and taking on what are obviously designated “runways”, while boats, including at least one rowboat, were crossing it willy-nilly. Clearly the rowboat had no radio, although most of the boats probably did. Can anyone explain how all this works?

I was expecting someone to take off and pass under the Lion’s Gate bridge, but they all gained enough altitude to pass well over.

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**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\
**Post date:** [May 21, 2026, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-air-traffic-control-work-in-vancouver-harbor/1030263/2 "2026-05-21T16:30:44Z")

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A couple references you might look at:

> **[Vancouver Harbour Control Tower](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver_Harbour_Control_Tower)**
>
> The Vancouver Harbour Air Control Tower, which serves Vancouver Harbour Water Airport (CYHC), is placed on top of the 142 m (466 ft) skyscraper Granville Square in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Built in 1973 it remains the highest air traffic control tower in the world, in the city with one of the world's highest levels of seaplane activity.
> In 2009 the tower handled 54,741 aircraft movements, the 32nd busiest control tower in Canada. It is also the 8th busiest airport in BC and the bus...

And a video within this article:

[https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/control-tower-vancouver-1.5486221](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/control-tower-vancouver-1.5486221)

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**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2026, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-air-traffic-control-work-in-vancouver-harbor/1030263/3 "2026-05-24T02:39:51Z")

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Well, the Wiki article was interesting, but fails to explain how to coordinate the air traffic and sea traffic. In ordinary controlled airports, the ground traffic control has (or should have; cf recent accident in Newark) total control over ground movements. My observation of the Vancouver Harbour seemed to show that that control was totally lacking and the airplanes had to look out for their own.