Air Traffic Control Entities

 NATIONAL AIR SPACE, TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT BETWEEN AIRPORT AND CENTER AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS 

The airspace in the United States is 

complex and structure well oil machine capable to handle thousands of airplanes in the air at the same time, but what really takes to manage all the traffic at once so well. Air traffic are divided among entities, each of them responsible to handle air traffic in different sectors, altitudes and airports inside the National Air Space (NAS). For now, we discussed the roll of Air Traffic Control Towers and Centers. 

In the United States the airspace is 

divided into 21 zones (sectors), within each zone are portions of airspace, about 50 miles in diameter called TRACON (Terminal Radar Approach Control) airspace, and within each TRACON are a number of airports each of which has it’s own airspace that measures around 5 mile radius (FAA, 2006). These airspace structure allows traffic to flow smoother and safe (FAA, 2020). 

Each entity have different responsibilities 

and structure, at the end all air traffic and ATC facilities combined need the support and services of each other. Control Towers are located across airports and are usually located in Class B, Class C and Class D airports across the nation, their duties and responsibilities range from handling ground traffic, arrivals, departures, clearances and sometimes uncontrolled traffic. Their duties may be complex at major city airports such as New York JFK Airport in which the airport controllers are divided in different sectors under different frequencies that are further subdivided in quadrants within the airports. 

At big airports the crew will contact first a 

ramp controller to leave the gate, then will be handoff to a ground controller to taxi to the active runway then, a tower controller that will provide takeoff clearance, once airborne to departure controller and later will be handoff to a center controller. 

Centers ensure the safe operation of 

commercial and private air traffic while enroute to their destinations, they coordinate traffic among the other centers across their route and get handoff to different centers, at the same time they can obtain weather advisories, flight level changes, turbulence reports and rerouting. Finally, once they are getting closer to their destination, they will handoff the traffic to an approach controller, which later be handoff to a tower, ground and ramp controller to ultimately get into the gate area. These smooth operation requires active coordination with operators and is challenge greatly during inclement weather, the end result is to ensure the safety of passengers, crew and cargo (ATC, 2015). 

References

Comparison of Air Traffic Management-Related Operational Performance: U.S./Europe. (2015). Federal Aviation Adminiatration. https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/media/us_eu_comparison_2015.pdf

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Air Traffic Control. (2020, February 4). Federal Aviation Adminiatration. https://www.faa.gov/news/fact_sheets/news_story.cfm?newsId=23315