What Exactly Does Air Traffic Control Do?

During flight training, you will learn a lot about the dynamics of Air Traffic Control. Air Traffic Control is a regulation service who direct aircraft from the ground by radio and GPS communication. ATC’s main priority is to prevent aircraft collision.

ATC directs and regulates the flow of aircraft traffic and provides information and assistance for pilots when needed. However, ATC is directed by people and can occasionally succumb to human error. To counterpart this, aircrafts now have collision avoidance systems installed to act as a security precaution against ATC observation.

The word of ATC is not necessarily set in stone. Pilots are able to deviate from ATC instructions in the event of an emergency.

Airport Traffic

Traffic tends to build up around airports because in order for an aircraft to land, the runway must be totally clear. This means that whatever aircraft before must have already touched down, slowed, and exited the runway before the waiting aircraft can cross the beginning of the runway.

Landing takes about one to four minutes depending on the aircraft. Airports have time allotted for 30 arrivals per hour. Unless the airport is built with two different arrival runways, then it would have time for 60 arrivals every hour.

If there is congestion on the arrival runway, the aircraft may be delayed. The pilot would be forced to remain holding over a location until given permission to land. Holding can be avoided with the growth of today’s technology. Now that pilots can predict the traffic at their arrival destination, they may choose do delay takeoff from their departure destination or even fly slower.

Weather

Weather conditions can be a major factor in aircraft traffic. Rain or snow on the runway can cause everything to slow down and require more time in between arrivals.

Thunderstorms can be a big factor because aircraft are guided to go around them. However if there are several thunderstorm cells in one area, all aircrafts will be attempting to fit through the same open area between them, causing serious traffic danger.

By training to be a pilot at flight training school, you will learn about regulations, safety, how to operate an aircraft, as well as the importance of Air Traffic Control.