For example, one sector may cover a geographic area of 500 square miles and range from the ground up to 23,000 feet, while a second sector covers the same geographic area but ranges from 23,000 feet in the air up to 37,000 feet. ĪRTCCs break down their assigned airspace into smaller, three-dimensional pieces known as sectors. There are 22 ARTCCs, each of which is responsible for an area of airspace defined by the FAA.
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However, if the aircraft is small and stays below 10,000 feet throughout the flight, the TRACON handles the entire flight.ĪRTCCs are the heart of airspace management. Once the aircraft leaves that zone, the plane enters what the FAA calls "en route airspace," and the TRACON hands the aircraft off to the regional ARTCC. A TRACON is normally the "middleman," managing the airspace around major metropolitan areas, generally within a 30- to 50-mile radius and under 10,000 feet. Once the plane has departed and is five miles from the airport, the ATCT hands it off to local terminal radar approach control (TRACON) facilities. The interior of an airport traffic control tower. Large airports, such as Dallas-Fort Worth, may have more than one ATCT due to their size and volume of traffic. The ATCT is located at the airport and handles the departures and arrivals of aircraft at that particular airport. When an aircraft is at an airport, it is managed by an airport traffic control tower (ATCT). In 2006, the Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCCs) routed more than 46 million flights. This is a huge task - according to the FAA, an average of 50,000 flights use the NAS each day.
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civilian and commercial aviation and provides traffic control for military craft flying over domestic airspace. The National Airspace System (NAS) is a complex system made up of the people, equipment and systems that monitor every plane in the air over the United States and large parts of the world's oceans at any given moment. One big part of safety is making sure that planes don't run into each other when they are in the air. The FAA ensures that aircraft are safe to fly, that pilots and mechanics are qualified, and that the people and systems that regulate the flow of air traffic do so safely. Safety is the most important job of the FAA. Video Gallery: Air Traffic ControlSee how air traffic control works in this video from NASA Destination Tomorrow. In this article, you will learn how the FAA regulates air safety, what it regulates and licenses and the types of research it conducts.
AIR TRAFFIC ORGANIZATION SERIES
The FAA accomplishes its mission through a series of activities that fall into three main categories: In addition to regulating the civil aviation industry and maintaining air traffic control, the FAA has other responsibilities, including developing new aviation technology, creating initiatives to regulate noise and other effects of air transportation and regulating space transportation in the United States. Photo courtesy Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)įounded in 1958, the Federal Aviation Agency later became the Federal Aviation Administration in 1967, when it joined the U.S. According to the FAA Web site, the agency's mission is "to provide the safest, most efficient aerospace system in the world." As of 2006, more than 47,000 people worked at the FAA, and more than 32,000 of them were part of the administration's air traffic organization. Created by the passage of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 as the Federal Aviation Agency, the FAA changed its name when it joined the Department of Transportation in 1967. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ensures their safety by regulating the air transportation industry and maintaining a nationwide network of air traffic control systems.
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Millions of people in the United States travel by airplane every year.