Airport infrastructure is often unable to grow at the same rate as the steadily growing volumes of air traffic and ground controllers face increasing workloads, because they have to deal with more aircraft in the same time. This can be counteracted by making changes to the system or system conditions, e.g. by implementing computerized supporting systems. Simulations are needed to investigate the impact of changing system conditions on the human operator. In addition to modeling the airport traffic control system in general, it is also necessary to model the cognitive processes and behavior of the ground controller. Based on basic guidelines for the development of cognitive simulation, an approach for the development of a coloured Petri net model of aerodrome air traffic control is presented.