Post 8

Here are some of the things that I learned while working at OAI. I learned that there are 21 ATCCs (air traffic control centers) in the continental United States that control the planes when they are at high altitude going from airport to airport. All of the ATCCs are connected, so when a plane goes from one ATCC’s airspace to another, the center that the plane is leaving will hand off control of the plane to the center that the plane is entering. In the en route system (the radar system that the ATCC uses), planes can either be IFR or VFR. Under IFR, the ATCC is directing the plane where to go and the plane must follow this exact plan. Under VFR, the ATCC simply provides advisories to the plane about routes to take, the ATCC does not control the plane. Something interesting that I learned about is how planes fly overseas. The path that planes take from the US to Europe is a “one way street” so to speak. Since there is no radar over the ocean, they only have planes flying one direction at a time since they don’t know where the other planes are. It switches back and forth between traffic going from the US to Europe and traffic going from Europe to the US.