Post 7

One day, Pat gave me a brief lesson on how the whole airtraffic control system works. Starting from the ground, the planes are under the control of the tower at the airport. The tower’s tasks include the following: 1. Issuing clearance to the flight 2. Telling the plane the path to take to taxi to the runway 3. Clears the plane for takeoff After takeoff, the planes contact departure control. TRACON (terminal Radar) is a short range radar system that is used to control the approach and departure of planes. TRACON controls the following: 4. Identifying the aircraft and putting it on its route to its destination 5. Approach control is normally responsible for a 40 mile radius around the airport and up to 10-13 thousand feet about the airport 6. When the plane reaches the boundary of terminal airspace, approach control hands off control to the air traffic control center (ATCC) Once the approach control hands off to the ATCC, the ATCC does the following: 7. Provides service until the plane reaches the destination airport terminal After all of this, the reverse happens, the ATCC hands off to the approach control of the destination. Approach vectors the plane in for a landing. The tower deals with clearing the plane for landing and taxiing the plane to the correct terminal.