Air Traffic Control Entities

Hello again my readers!

    Have you ever wondered how aircraft movement is possible on the ground and up in the air? In this week's blog I will be discussing the difference between the air traffic controllers and ground controllers on how they operate and the area of responsibilities they have.

    

   Ground controllers are primarily responsible for safe movement of aircraft and other equipment, whether it be taxiing from gates to takeoff runways and from landing runways to gates (Freudenrich 2021). Aircraft taxiing is just a part of their responsibility, maintainers also communicate to ground controllers to request engine run up testing on remote pads or designated areas. Equipment operators or rampers as we would like to call them, also requires approval from ground controllers when they are moving an aircraft regardless of the location specially when crossing an active runway, this is to ensure that their status boards are up to date and accurate on where the aircraft is located or parked. And finally, when pilots are ready for departure, the first person that they communicate is with the ground controller to request pushback.

    Air Traffic Controllers or local controllers have different roles and responsibilities. Just to name a few, the deal with Takeoff, Departure, En route, Descent and other aircraft movement that is related to the air (Freudenrich 2021). They are also responsible for maintaining the safe distances between airplanes as they takeoff due to the wake turbulence that is generated by the aircraft that took off (Freudenrich 2021). Local controllers are also gives the pilots final clearance for takeoff as soon as that person deems the skies safe for passage, for this to happen, they also monitor the weather and updates the pilots if there are any hazards.

    In conclusion, these people are a big piece of safety net in the commercial industry. They monitor the air and ground day and night to prevent any accidents or runway incursions that could occur. This blog is meant to generalize the entities of an ATC but there are broad spectrums and roles that controllers have. 

Thank you for taking your time in reading my blog post. Until next time!

-Ralph 

References:

Federal Aviation Administration (2016) Pilots Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge. Retrieved from:

        https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aviation/phak/

Freudenrich, C. (2021 May 12) How Air Traffic Control Works. Retrieved from:

        https://science.howstuffworks.com/transport/flight/modern/air-traffic-control.htm#:~:text=Air%20traffic%20controllers%20in%20the,with%20visual%20and%20radar%20tools.&text=The%20ground%20controller%20watches%20the,or%20interfere%20with%20ground%20vehicles.