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Air Traffic Control (ATC)A brief synopsis.

Tyler Vann

Copyright 1996-2001 © Dale Carnegie & Associates, Inc.

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Opening• Worried that this could be you on your next flight?

• Air Traffic Control’s job is to prevent incidents like this.

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Overview

• Flight Rules, IFR/VFR

• Priorities

• Separation/Facilities

• Summary

• Questions

• Resources

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Flight Rules IFR

• IFR Stands for Instrument Flight Rules

• All Commercial and most military aircraft fly under IFR conditions

• IFR aircraft MUST talk to Air Traffic Control

• ATC instructions for IFR Aircraft are MANDATORY

• Can fly in fair or poor weather

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Flight Rules VFR• VFR stands for Visual Flight Rules

• Operate on a See and Avoid principle

• Most ATC instructions are advisory in nature

• Can fly in fair weather only, must remain clear of clouds

• Small privately owned aircraft are often VFR

• Not generally required to talk to ATC

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Duty Priority

• The primary job of ATC is to:

– Separate aircraft

– Provide safety alerts

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Separation of Aircraft

• Aircraft are separated (or kept apart) in a variety of ways depending on these phases of flight.

– Arrival and Departure

– Ascent and Descent

– En route

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Tower Control• The Air Traffic Control tower is

responsible for aircraft at the airport.

• Arrival and Departure separation is provided.

• Generally, only one aircraft can be on the runway at a time.

• The tower will clear aircraft to land or takeoff if the runway is clear.

• Talks to both IFR and VFR aircraft

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Approach Control• Provides separation using RADAR.

• Will keep aircraft at least 1000 feet vertically separated or a minimum of 3 miles laterally.

• Sequences arrivals into an airport.

• Climbs departures to requested altitude ensuring separation from other arrivals and overflight traffic.

• IFR aircraft are required to

talk to Approach, VFR are not

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En Route Center (ARTCC)• Provides 2000 feet of vertical separation or 5 miles of

lateral separation

• Monitors aircraft flight using mosaic RADAR over a very large area

• Responsible for high altitudes

• Has an overall “picture” of traffic situation

• Issues restrictions if airports become congested

• IFR are required to talk to

a center, VFR are not

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Safety Alerts

• #2 Priority

• Issued for:

– Ground/Terrain proximity

– Converging aircraft

– Obstacles such as large buildings or antennas

– Weather

– Observed abnormal conditions. Such as, erratic flight, rapid descent, etc…

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Operational Priority

• ATC services are provided on a “First come first served basis.”

• There are many exceptions

• Priorities– Arrivals

– Departures

– Over-flights

• Generally IFR have precedence over VFR

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Special Operational Priorities

• An aircraft in distress (Emergency) has priority over ALL other aircraft

• Then Air ambulance flights/medivacs

• Next Search and Rescue (SAR) aircraft

• Then Presidential aircraft (Air Force 1)

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Emergencies

• ATC assists pilots to the maximum extent possible during an emergency

• ATC gathers the following information and passes it to emergency services– Nature of emergency

– Pilot’s intentions

– Souls on board

– Any ordinance (Primarily military) on board

– Remaining fuel

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Emergencies Cont.

• ATC can assists emergency aircraft by:– Clearing all airspace around and in front of aircraft

– Ensuring the Runway is available immediately

– Alerting emergency services of inbound aircraft

– Vectoring aircraft to airport or around populations

– Tower personnel can look for damage as the aircraft flies by

– Directing aircraft to an airport that can assist with their emergency

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Close• IFR and VFR are types of ratings that

determine what services pilots are provided.

• ATC keeps planes from hitting each other and the ground

• ATC services are provided on a “First Come First Served” basis

• Emergencies are assisted by air traffic controllers

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Why ATC is there

• Air Traffic Control is there to make air travel:

– Quicker

– Safer

– More cost effective

– More enjoyable

• However…..

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In the end, there is only so much ATC can do…

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Questions??

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References

• FAAO 7110.65

• www.HowStuffWorks.com

• 6 Years of military ATC experience

• Click for interesting real audio from the biggest fly-in in the world.