Once, things were very different.

About five years ago, there was suddenly a burst of hammering and masonry work near the airport. Next to the familiar control tower — famous as the only international airport with an extremely limited view of just the runway — a brand-new tower appeared.
Statia’s airport suddenly had a tower that could actually serve as a lookout post.
Back then, pilots could only wonder if the tower knew where they were. The controllers could only look straight ahead; the rest of the 360-degree view had apparently been converted into… office space due to lack of room.

Today, they can watch not just the runway, but the entire sky — which feels a lot more reassuring. Especially for pilots. Particularly when there’s a hiccup with the communication equipment.