Definition
A short-range radar system used by air traffic control to detect and display the position of aircraft within roughly 60 nautical miles of an airport. It provides controllers with the bearing and distance of aircraft, but not altitude, and is used primarily for sequencing and separating traffic in the terminal area.
Plain English
A radar at or near an airport that shows controllers where nearby aircraft are, so they can guide them safely in and out. It tells the controller direction and distance from the airport, but not how high the aircraft is.
Context Anchor
Seen in instrument approach, air traffic control, and radar services discussions, especially when a controller is providing radar vectors or an ASR approach.
Derivation
Radar comes from "radio detection and ranging" — using radio waves to find objects and measure how far away they are. "Surveillance" means watching over an area. So an airport surveillance radar is the radar that watches the airspace around an airport.
Why Pilots Care
It gives controllers real-time aircraft locations so they can issue precise vectors and maintain safe separation in the terminal area.
Intuition Check
Surveillance does not mean security-camera monitoring here. In this term, it means ATC watching aircraft positions on radar around an airport.
Example Sentence 1
Approach control used airport surveillance radar to vector us onto the final approach course.
Example Sentence 2
In marginal weather the pilot relied on the controller's instructions derived from airport surveillance radar.