Definition
An air traffic control facility that provides radar and non-radar services to aircraft arriving at, departing from, or transiting the airspace surrounding one or more busy airports, typically from about 30 to 50 nautical miles out and up to around 10,000 feet. Approach control sequences and separates arriving traffic, issues vectors and altitude assignments, clears aircraft for instrument approaches, and hands them off to the airport's tower for landing.
Plain English
The controllers who take charge of an aircraft as it gets close to a busy airport. They line up the arriving traffic, tell pilots which headings and altitudes to fly, clear them for the approach, and then pass them to the tower for landing.
Context Anchor
Pilots encounter approach control during descent planning, arrival, instrument approaches, missed approaches, and departures near busy airports.
Derivation
Approach comes from an older word meaning “to come nearer.” Control comes from words meaning “to check or direct.” In aviation, approach control means the air traffic service that directs aircraft as they come nearer to an airport, not a cockpit control and not the pilot’s flying technique.
Why Pilots Care
It maintains safe aircraft separation and orderly flow during busy arrival and departure phases, directly reducing mid-air conflict risk.
Intuition Check
Do not read “approach control” as the pilot’s control of the airplane during an approach. Here, it means the air traffic control service or facility that manages aircraft near the airport during arrivals and departures.
Example Sentence 1
About 40 miles out, Center handed us off to approach control, who gave us vectors for the ILS to runway 27.
Example Sentence 2
Approach control cleared the aircraft to descend and join the final approach course.